Adventure time, a heroes quest
by SneakyDekuScrub
Summary: After a bad accident finn begins judging himself and questioning if he really is a hero. So he sets off to try and find a way to redeem himself, and prove he is a real hero. Please review.
1. Chapter 1 The accident

Chapter 1: The Accident

It was a normal day in the Land of Ooo, where the sun would normally be high in the sky of the early morning, but today, strong clouds were obscuring the bright day and looming over the land. It had only just begun drizzling with rain.

In a large tree fortress, two people were resting inside of the living room, one being a young teenage boy with a white hat that had bear ears sticking out of it, the other being his older brother, a dog with yellow-orange fur. The two were well known throughout the Land of Ooo for being adventurous heroes. The living room was made of wood and well maintained. They had nothing they could do, all of their plans being ruined by the rain, and the duo stuck doing nothing in their own tree home.

The teenage boy stood up, letting out a short yawn. "Do we still got any board games?" he asked his older brother, Jake, a magical dog that could stretch and change his body, though he could only stretch up to a limited length. He always tried his best to protect his little adopted brother. "Finn, we gave 'em all to some of the candy orphans. Remember?" Jake answered, getting up and beginning to look around for something they could do the living room. The only thing furnishing the room was a few scratches in the walls, a coffee table and a green sofa.

"And BMO's still recharging… great," Finn muttered to himself. He was known as the last human alive in the Land of Ooo, though he was also known for being a hero, the reputation he lived by to stay good and protect all. The two were trying to think of something to do. "Listen, dude. Why don't we go visit Bubblegum? She might have something we can help her with," Jake suggested to his younger brother. He didn't enjoy moping around and especially hated seeing his brother sulking about. "Fine…" he sighed, reluctantly agreeing. Anything that would get rid of the boredom, he welcomed. Finn went and grabbed an umbrella before proceeding downstairs to their front door which was surrounded by hordes of treasure and various weapons that they had gathered on their lifetime of adventures.

The two set off into the outside land. The rain was starting to get heavier while the two walked beside each other, sharing the umbrella. His older brother was trying to think up on something to start conversation, and only one thing came to mind. "So… how have you and Flame Princess been?" Jake questioned, wondering how his brother was doing with his girlfriend. "She's been a bit upset, lately. She hates seeing me get hurt whenever we do anything," Finn explained. He tended to get burnt whenever he held her hand, hugged her, or even kissed her. The silent atmosphere took over, the only noise coming from the rain that pelted off from their umbrella.

They arrived to the Candy Kingdom, where it looked just as lively as expected. Only a few candy people were outside in the rain that seemed to be gradually getting heavier and heavier. It was no surprise to them. They just ignored it while continuing through the candy paved streets, straight towards a huge candy castle that was nestled in the middle of Candy Kingdom.

Once the two entered the Candy Castle, Finn closed the umbrella and rested it near the door. "Oh, welcome, Finn and Jake," they were greeted by a familiar servant in the castle, Peppermint Butler. He was the princess's right hand assistant in many activities she did. "What brings you two here?" he asked the two heroes. "We just wanted to visit PB," Finn answered. Jake just nodded. "Oh yes, come with me," the butler insisted, leading them deeper into the castle. The hallways had various portraits that depicted a woman with pink skin and long pink hair, in a royal dress and a tiara set on her head.

Finn just looked at the paintings in boredom. Lost in his memories, he remembered the crush he used to have on the princess, but he had moved on when every attempt failed, due to the princess being much older than him. He became more aware of how childish he felt, the longer it went on. Finn was snapped from his trance once they arrived to a room full of scientific equipment that was lying around, gathering dust from either not being completed yet or just having no use.

"That's odd. She should have been here…" Peppermint Butler claimed. The room was awkwardly empty, though one look around the room proved to answer where she was already. "Dude, are those icicles?" Jake questioned, seeing multiple frozen spikes on the ceiling, steadily dripping water from starting to melt, and snow on the ground in small random piles. "The Ice King!" Finn and Jake told each other at one upon realizing whom the leftover frost was from.

Finn was rushing alongside Jake, going out of the castle. The princess had been kidnapped once again. It happened a lot, a thing which they were used to and didn't think much of, but both of them were ecstatic to at least have something to do. They were running out of the candy kingdom heading straight for the icy mountains in the far distance not caring about the heavy rainstorm that still went on.

A few minutes passed, and they arrived to a frozen wasteland known as the Ice Kingdom, with a giant Ice Fortress nearby on top of a mountain. "Just stretch us up there," Finn told Jake. Before he could, they were suddenly blasted by a loud roar. A frozen golem arose from the snow right in front of the entrance. "Uh oh… Dude…" Jake stepped back a bit. His younger brother grabbed a handle from his back, and pulled out a golden, but brittle sword. "This Snow Golem is just going to waste our time. You go save Princess Bubblegum. I'll handle this guy," Jake explained the plan. The young hero just gave a nod, thinking that his older brother could handle it by himself.

Jake stretched his arm out, punching the Snow Golem, instantly enraging it. It stomped towards him, but while it was distracted, Finn slipped around it and made his way into the entrance of the ice fortress. Once inside he could see very few furniture that was around, mostly made out of ice, with a group of penguins randomly wandering around, but didn't pose any real threat.

Finn climbed up an all too familiar staircase of the ice fortress. He could hear voices echoing from the top of the ice fortress where the steps were leading him. "You know they'll come and save me eventually. Just let me out and you'll be spared a beating this time," a woman's voice echoed. "Ha! I doubt they even know you're gone," another voice echoed that sounded odd.

Finn arrived to the door where the voices were coming from. He gripped his sword tighter before kicking in the door and watching it fly open. Finn stepped into a room with a cage in it and a big window to view the ice kingdom from. The princess that was in the portraits was standing within the cage, and a pale blue skinned man with white hair and a long white beard was standing nearby in a blue robe, and a gold crown with multiple gems embedded in it.

"I'm here, Bubblegum!" Finn declared. Princess Bubblegum was relieved when she saw him kick in the door. "Hey, come on! I'm sick of fixing that door every time!" The man in blue shouted furiously before shooting a bolt of ice at Finn. He blocked it with his sword, causing it to freeze over. He smashed it on the ground, breaking the ice off of it. "Just give up, Ice King," the young hero taunted. The Ice King had a mental problem and a brief past with another friend of Finn's. Finn however got more annoyed with the Ice King, each time he saw him. The Ice King was insane, the fact being that he always tried to kidnap princesses to marry them, but whenever it happened, Finn and Jake would come in and rescue them.

The Ice King didn't respond and just proceeded to shoot icicles out from the palms of his hands at the young boy. Finn blocked most of them with his sword, but a few hit his arm. He just charged at the Ice King, swinging his sword. He missed and his sword smashed into the frozen ground and got stuck. "Oh glob," Finn muttered. The Ice King grinned and shot out another bolt of ice, freezing Finn's left foot, from the ankle up to his knee.

"Finn!" Princess Bubblegum watched in fear from the cage, wishing that she could just help. Finn looked at his leg for a second, where the frozen tingly pain was already bothering him. "Prepare to be a big ice block," the Ice King laughed, about to blast him again. Before he knew it, Finn had begun charging towards him, getting himself blasted by a bolt of ice that froze his left fist. Finn threw an uppercut on the Ice King's jaw.

The ice king stumbled back before falling out the huge window that he used to view the land. Finn just came over to the prison that Bubblegum was in. "Oh, thank goodness. Are you okay?" Bubblegum questioned out of worry. "Fine, j-just a bit cold…" Finn answered before beginning to beat on the lock with his frozen fist until both the lock and the ice encasing his fist broke apart. Princess Bubblegum was glad to be freed once more. "Thank you, Finn. Come on, let's get out of here" she insisted, wanting to leave.

"You got it, PB," Finn said with a smirk. Suddenly a loud groan agony pierced his ears. He went over to the huge window which the Ice King had fallen out of, and saw him lying on a platform part way down. The young hero's eyes widened. He was about to jump down. "What are you doing?!" Bubblegum shouted, wondering what he was trying to accomplish behind this. Finn didn't answer before sliding down the icy slope to the Ice King.

"Are you okay, dude?" Finn questioned before seeing a smaller spike of ice sticking through his shoulder. He was horrified. "Holy glob…! Come on, I-I'll help you," he said, trying to ignore his frozen leg while trying to help the unconscious Ice King. Suddenly, Finn heard a loud crack and looked behind him, seeing the platform starting to crack. Finn tried to pry the Ice King from the frozen spike that was extruding through his shoulder.

"FINN!" Princess Bubblegum's voice echoed from higher up as the platform broke off and began sliding into the ice below. Finn was trying to stay calm, but the next thing he knew, they were smashing into the snowy ground. Just then, Finn fell unconscious in an instant.

End of Chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2 A broken hero

Chapter 2: A Broken Hero

Finn woken up after the horrific accident at the Ice King's Fortress. He looked around, panting. He was in a hospital room, with an IV hooked up to his arm. He gripped his chest in pain, feeling like he had been stomped on by an ogre. He tried to ignore the pain as he saw his green bag and his red sword hanging on the nearby wall. "How did I get to the candy hospital…?" Finn asked himself, seeing his brother Jake sitting in a nearby chair by his bed, sleeping.

Finn lay back in his bed, and he began to think back on what had happened to cause him to wind up here. He held his head, remembering how he had nearly got the Ice King killed. He just sat there, lost in his own thoughts for a while, not willing to wake up his big brother. He just stared at the foot of his bed, just remembering the incidents in his head. "Thank goodness, Finn! You're awake!" Finn snapped out of the trance after the past couple of hours, looking up at the doorway to find Princess Bubblegum standing there.

"Oh, hey Princess Bubblegum…" Finn greeted her in a monotonous voice. "I was so worried. What were you thinking when you did risked your life saving Ice King like that?" Princess Bubblegum questioned him, wondering just why. "I'm a hero. I'm not supposed to kill people, good or bad," the heroic boy answered, still unable to believe what he had almost done to his foe.

"The Ice King is fine. He left a few days ago. You've been asleep for a week. You have a few broken ribs though," Bubblegum continued to explain. "PB… I just… I'm a monster. I'm no better than the people I fight. He could've died because of me," Finn explained. He had so many different emotions, but the one he felt the most was guilt. "Finn, you're not a monster. You're the same hero you always were," she said. Finn heard it, but took it like a reassuring lie, not giving a form of response. Bubblegum sighed, noticing the time. "I must return to the castle. I'll go check in on you later. Just try to rest," she bid him farewell before leaving the hospital room. Finn just tried to do what she said, but he couldn't simply forget about it.

Four days later, Princess Bubblegum was walking through the candy hospital halls with a small wrapped present in hand. She had been visiting every now and then to check on her heroic friend. Today, when she arrived to his hospital room, she found the hero missing, along with his older brother, but the machines were still running. One of the nurses walked by, but Bubblegum stopped her. "Excuse me, but when did Finn get discharged from the hospital?" she asked. The nurse looked into the room and back to the princess. "Discharged? He wasn't supposed to be discharged at all. I have to go alert the staff," she claimed, running off. The now worried princess wondered why Finn would leave so suddenly when he wasn't fully healed yet. She considered going to search for him. She left the hospital to head to the heroes' home.

Princess Bubblegum travelled all the way from the Candy Kingdom to the treefort of Finn and Jake. The princess approached the door, keeping the present in her pocket. She knocked on the door, waiting for an answer. Jake opened the door, having not expected her to show up. "Oh hey, Bubblegum. What are you doing here?" he asked, curious if the Candy Kingdom was in trouble. "I wanted to speak with Finn," she explained her reason for being there. Jake gave a confused look. "He's still in the hospital, isn't me?" he spoke. "Nope. …he kinda… snuck out," she hesitantly stated, knowing he wouldn't take the news too well. "Wait, he what?! I gotta go find him," Jake barked in shock, knowing his brother was still injured since the last time he saw him. He stretched and set off, beginning to search the land for his little human brother.

Finn was wandering through a dense forest, holding his chest in pain. It was hard for him to walk after being stuck in a hospital bed for the past few days. "Home… isn't… too far…" he muttered and panted. His green bag and his father's red sword hanging on the side of his bag felt like an anvil weighing him down. He leaned against a tree, panting weakly. "I'll just… rest my… eyes…" he hesitantly spoke to himself before beginning to pass out from pain and fatigue. He wanted to get home, but the injuries had been making him too weak to make it all the way.

After a few hours, his eye opened, letting him view a different area. Finn groaned, looking around. He wasn't in the same place from before. He was on a couch nestled in in a living room. Finn stood up, his legs starting to get their strength back and his chest not hurting as much. It was something which he welcomed, but then he noticed a bite mark on part of his leg. "Oh, good. I was worried you were dead." Finn looked over to a nearby kitchen doorway, noticing a girl with black hair and pale grey skin, with a leather jacket, a black tank top, narrow blue jeans and devil red boots. Plus she had two holes on one side of her neck.

"Hey, Marceline. What am I doing here?" Finn questioned, he knew Marceline as the vampire queen who preferred the color red over blood. She was the kind of friend to go to when he was depressed. Finn had only one thing coming on his mind at the moment. "I found you with a wolf gnawing on your leg. You wouldn't get up so I just brought you here," she responded while telling him about how he received that bite mark on his leg. "Thanks. Listen, I need to talk to you," Finn claimed. Marceline just waited curiously for him to continue, with a raised eyebrow on her face.

"I need to apologize. I nearly killed the Ice King… I mean, Simon," Finn started, knowing about Marceline's past with the Ice King. "You? A killer?" Marceline couldn't help but somewhat snicker since he always tried to be a valorous hero. "I know you would never do it on purpose," she said nonchalantly, knowing he would never attempt to kill anybody. "But it was like I was. I was saving PB and I accidently knocked him on a spike of ice," Finn said, holding his head from the horrid memories.

"An accident's an accident," Marceline told him, but she knew there was a lot of emotion running in his mind. "I don't know… I think I lost that heroic title of mine…" Finn declared what he thought of himself right now. Marceline scratched her chin and got a devious smirk on her face. "Well, if you don't think you're a good hero anymore… then why don't you just leave?" she asked with a slight hiss, her long tongue always managing to keep him afraid. "W-what do you mean?" he asked fearfully. "Go find yourself. I know you don't wanna hear it, but if it's bugging you that much, then go find the hero in you again," she spoke further, telling him to leave his home and travel the Land of Ooo by himself.

"I can't just leave like that. Everyone'll be worried," Finn protested, but deep down he was strongly considering it. "It's your life, Finn. You can't let anyone but yourself decide on what to do. Either forget about this or confront it," Marceline continued, considering just forgetting about the memories more difficult for him to do. "…You know what? You're right, Marcy. Thanks again," Finn told her, standing up, having reached a revelation that the only way to find out if he was a true hero was to travel the land and find out for himself.

"You won't tell anyone, will you?" Finn questioned. Marceline yawned. "Nah. I don't think there's much fun to be had with the secret anyway," she claimed, usually liking to be playful with things unless the matter was serious.

Soon, Marceline bid Finn farewell, waving to him as he left her home within a cave. He just waved back, happy to take her advice. As he stepped further away from the house, Finn wandered about in the sunset. He knew just one thing to do. It was either come back after redeeming himself or not. He was happy to have been reassured by his friend. He was now setting off into the big sprawling Land of Ooo, ready to find the lost hero he once was that was residing somewhere in it.

End of Chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3 The future?

Chapter 3: The Future…?

Three months had passed since Finn had left his home to begin traversing the Land of Ooo by himself to try and find if he was really a hero or not, going mainly on the advice that Marceline had given him that he needed to find out for himself.

At the moment, Finn was resting by a lakeside. The sun was starting to set, and he was staring at his reflection in the water, just taking a break. He hadn't changed, for the memory of what happened between him and the Ice King still wouldn't leave his mind, like a horrible nightmare that he kept reliving over and over mentally. By the time Finn had snapped out of his trance, it was night time. "I need to go find somewhere to sleep…" he told himself, knowing that he had to go somewhere to sleep. He had no tent in his backpack, or anything from home aside from some money and his father's red sword.

Finn was wandering through an open field, hoping to find a tree to rest under, but so far he could find nothing at all, like he was just going to wind up sleeping under the stars tonight. Something in the near distance however caught his eye, a campfire burning brightly. He was curious, so he began approaching it. Sitting by it was a person in a robe covering their entire body, with a strange crystal ball in front of them.

"Uh, hello?" Finn greeted the person. "Hello there," the person responded, the voice sounding light and airy with a reassuring tone. It was certainly a female, but Finn couldn't even see her face, so he was somewhat cautious in case she was a threat. "You have a terrible future ahead of you," she said, catching his attention. "What do you mean?" Finn responded. The lady motioned him to sit beside her. "The crystal ball shall show you" she said, holding the crystal sphere in her hands. Finn looked deeper into it, seeing a reflection of himself, but something was amiss. His hat was now black and he was standing on the ruins of the Candy Kingdom, his sword covered in blood and his older brother lying lifelessly in front of him.

Finn immediately pushed himself back in shock, seeing the image in the crystal ball. "What is this? That can't be me! What are you?!" he fearfully asked, sweating from the horror that he saw. "Just a psychic...And a bit of a fortune teller. This image is you in one year's time. You are no hero, correct?" she asked, though a lot of people knew who the boy was, a hero across the Land of Ooo. Finn doubted if he was a hero after the incident with the Ice King, but he didn't suspect that it would stagnate into that. "I-I'm not a villain! I'm-" Finn stuttered. "…a fool who nearly killed another person?" she finished for him. Finn froze for a split second, and buried his face in his hands. The psychic was driving him insane with all of the thoughts running in his mind.

"If you really are a hero, then why not prove it?" the psychic asked, putting the crystal ball away, catching Finn's attention even more. "How do I prove it? How do I make myself a hero again?" Finn asked, trying to calm down. "You just need to learn the mantras, the virtues, and acquire the items. They belonged to the heroes' code, a long forgotten tradition for warriors," the psychic explained what he needed to do to prove himself as a hero again. Finn was willing to do anything to prevent a dark future. "You need to find each temple withholding these items. I only know of one, and it is at the Candy Kingdom itself," she explained to him. The confused Finn nodded.

"When you acquire all items, come to me," the woman told him. "Okay…" Finn nodded, standing up after the tense moment around the campfire. He immediately set off for the Candy Kingdom, willing to do anything if the future he was foretold came true. He didn't even want to imagine the devastation that may inevitably befall on the Land of Ooo.

End of Chapter 3


	4. Chapter 4 Unexpected help

Chapter 4: Unexpected Help

Finn was walking through a familiar area in the Land of Ooo. He was on his way to the Candy Kingdom after the fortune teller had told him of his future. He was desperate to make sure that it didn't happen, though he was considering it to also prove himself as a hero after all. He knew one person in the Candy Kingdom who will be able to help him, yet he was only able to hope so.

Finn arrived to the Candy Kingdom. It felt like ages since he had last been here. He entered the kingdom, where he was given friendly greetings and waves from the kind candy people which made him smile. He was glad to know they didn't forget about him since the past three months. Nothing much had changed. The only thing Finn could notice were newly installed buildings.

Finn arrived to the Candy Castle in a short time. He entered inside and found Peppermint Butler cleaning around the entrance. "Oh, Finn! You've returned! Welcome," Peppermint Butler greeted him, happy to see him return since the day he suddenly left. "Yeah, sorry about that. I'm here to see Bubblegum," Finn responded with no intention to explain why he wanted to see her. "She's in her lab," Peppermint Butler claimed. Finn nodded, making his way upstairs. The hallways were exactly the same since he left. They were clean, the paintings hadn't changed, and none of the decorations had changed either. He found it creepy how things hadn't changed here, but he just ignored it.

Finn arrived to the room where Princess Bubblegum mainly did her favorite activity, science. He saw the princess, herself mixing chemicals that seemed to just make different colors at most, but Finn didn't know anything about science. "Hey, PB. Long time, no see," Finn called out to her. She instantly stood up, facing him, completely surprised. Her look turned into a smile. "Finn… you're back! Where have you been? Jake had to protect the land all by himself since you left. It hasn't been the same without you here," she explained. Finn was somewhat confused by her reaction, but he did feel rather bad for leaving his older brother to handle the heroic duties on his own.

"I've been searching for the hero. I still couldn't find it," Finn claimed, unable to find his heroic side, but he was keeping the dark future that he was warned about a secret. He wanted nobody to know about it. Otherwise the impact it will have on the people around Finn will probably be dire. "Are you still upset over that incident with the Ice King?" she questioned, only to receive a silent nod. Finn had never forgiven himself for that. "I have something I've needed to give you," Princess Bubblegum claimed, having remembered the gift for a long time. A gift which she had been planning on giving him a long time back, but he had run away before she could hand it to him. Finn just let his question stay in the back of his mind for a bit, curious to what the princess, of all people, would give him. He just followed her, excited.

After a short moment of following Princess Bubblegum to her room, Finn just waited idly while he watched the princess rummage through some of her drawers until she pulled out the small gift. "I should have given you this a long time ago," she said, presenting it to him. Finn carefully unwrapped the bow on the gift and removed the lid of it. Inside was a strange ring with a green pearl on it. He held it with a raised eyebrow. "What is it?" he questioned. "It's hard candy that's hundreds of years old. I present one to our best guards. I think you are well deserved enough to get it. You've protected this castle for the past years," Princess Bubblegum explained that the ring's diamond-like center was just unbelievably old hard candy, but it did imitate the looks of a ring in a good way.

Finn looked at the ring. He gripped it in his hand tightly. While it was pretty to look at, it also brought back a lot of bad memories of his previous crush on the princess, something he did well not to dwell on. "…Thanks, PB. It's wonderful. Now I need to ask you something," Finn claimed, slipping the ring onto the index finger of his right hand. The ring was rather fitting to him. However, Finn had to wonder if she was just trying to make him feel better over the accident with the ice king. Bubblegum nodded, willing to answer anything. "Is there, uh… any weird dungeons, or anything in the Candy Kingdom?" he nervously asked. She gave a confused look. "No. Any dungeons nearby have been dealt with by my guards for the safety of the people," she answered. Finn felt somewhat dumb for even asking in the first place.

They heard the door open and saw Peppermint Butler come out. "Excuse me, princess. I hate to interrupt, but Cinnamon Bun is at the entrance. He requires your assistance," Peppermint Butler explained. Princess Bubblegum sighed. "I'll be right back, Finn," she said, leaving her room. Finn sat there as Peppermint Butler walked over to him. "I overheard your conversation. I think I could be of assistance," he claimed. "Wuh? …what do you mean?" Finn questioned in a somewhat worried tone. He had odd experiences in the past with the butler, mainly creepy ones.

"You're looking for the temple, correct? It's been kept a secret from everyone for a while, even the princess herself," Peppermint Butler asked. Finn stood up. "Yeah… that's the one I'm looking for," he claimed, only able to recall what the fortune teller had told him to find the temple, learn some mantra and get a certain item. "Follow me then," he said before walking towards the library. Finn hesitantly followed behind him.

Once they were in the library, Finn waited around while Peppermint Butler was moving around a shelf of books. "Let's see… this goes here, and this one there…" he muttered before he moved one of the books into the center, and they heard a loud click. The book case opened up to reveal a secret passage lit with torches. Finn followed Peppermint Butler through the secret passage that seemed to be carefully made. "I still gotta ask. Why were you keeping this a secret from PB?" Finn asked while they arrived to a set of stairs that seemingly led down into pitch darkness.

"I don't know why. The few people that have kept it a secret have never had a good reason. The only reason I can think of honestly is because I felt I had to," Peppermint Butler answered. Finn decided not to argue with him over it, knowing that it was probably a good thing that the princess was unaware about it. Finn stared at his hard candy ring while they walked. "Here we are, Finn," Peppermint announced as the darkness was pierced by a torch light. Finn looked up to see a giant stone door with multiple unreadable words written into it. "Okay… so… how do I get inside?" he questioned. Peppermint Butler shrugged as he didn't know how to enter. "I have no clue. I only know that one of the words on this wall translates to sacrifice. That's all we could gather from it," he said while beginning to walk away, leaving Finn alone in front of the huge stone door.

Finn just looked at it in fear. He had to find a way inside, no matter what. He had to enter the temple, the one dungeon that he was now processing as the Temple of Sacrifice.

End of Chapter 4


	5. Chapter 5 The temple of sacrifice

Chapter 5: The Temple of Sacrifice

Finn stood in front of the temple entrance. He had been unable to move for minutes on end. "How do I open it?" That was all his mind could process as he tried pushing, lifting, pulling and shoving, but no matter what he did, the door would not open, the huge stone slab with words carved on it just mocking him. "For the love of glob…! What do you want from me to open?!" he shouted, punching the stone angrily as hard as he could. Blood began dripping and running down from Finn's knuckle. He had dug it into the stone slab too hard. He just kept his eyes closed, panting and trying to calm down.

Finn just turned his back to the stone door, thinking that he should go try to find Peppermint Butler again, but before he could even take his first step, he suddenly noticed a bright vibrant orange light surround him. He turned around, seeing the words on the door light up, along with a giant tear shaped symbol in the center. It began to open slowly, the rumbling and loud shaking of the tunnel following. Finn was nearly knocked off his feet, but once the shaking stopped, the stone door was fully open. Finn stood up. "Hey… it's open! …Remember. Looking for a mantra… and an item…" he muttered to himself, making a mental note of it. He entered into the Temple of Sacrifice. The door slammed shut behind him, which startled him for a second, but he didn't let it get to him.

Finn looked around. In the entrance was nothing but carved out stone pillars that looked pretty and well decorated, though he noticed a pedestal in the center of a room with eight different passage ways to take. He didn't intend to glance at any of the paths. He walked towards the pedestal, noticing a small light beaming down on it, but it was nothing more than a dusty piece of paper. He picked it up and began reading it. "Hmm…! Our foes assist us. Sometimes we have to turn to our third eye for assistance…?" Finn was confused. He didn't understand what it meant, nor did he have any idea what they meant by third eye, since he only had two eyes. Suddenly he heard an echoing snarl which made his spine shiver in fear. Finn just jumped over the pedestal and went down the middle path out of the eight.

The corridor was long and dark. Finn couldn't see too far ahead of him and it seemed to just twist and turn to the point where it felt like he was going in circles, but suddenly he heard another snarl and turned around. Behind him was a ghoul screeching and approaching him quickly. It was climbing on the side of the wall, its limbs twisted and horrified, its teeth yellow and rotten, and one of its eyes missing. It let out an echoing roar. "A-AGH! What are you?!" Finn shrieked, ripping himself free from his scared stiff pose before running away in the opposite direction to escape it, not wanting to even attempt fighting it.

Finn ran and ran, even when his body was tired and his legs ached and throbbed in pain. He looked over his shoulder to see that the monster was gone, but he didn't know where. Finn could care less though about where it was, as long as it was far away from him.

Finn sat down against the wall and buried his face within his hands, terrified of this temple. He then saw the same vibrant orange light shining from a nearby corner. He stood up and went to see what was causing this, but when he got to it, he found a bright orange tear drop in a glass case with two small stone pedestals on each side. He watched it shine brightly. "Whoa…" Finn reacted he approached it, but it was surrounded in a case of glass. He tried to remove the glass, but it didn't work. When he touched the glass, it turned bright orange and burned his hands, one word appearing on the glass right after. Finn saw the word and read it, but it was nowhere different.

"Sacrifice…" Finn muttered. He didn't know what it meant. In fact, it was starting to make him feel mad. He rested his hands individually on each pedestal, trying to take a breath and get himself together. "What do you mean by sacrifice, temple? What do you want from me?" Finn asked, though it was like asking the void of darkness itself. He received no answer, but instead he felt something wrap around his right wrist. "What the math?!" he yelped, seeing a metal strap arisen from one of the pedestals and wrapped around his wrist. He could see a pendulum, a kind of torture device swinging down from the ceiling back and forth and slowly lowering. Finn let out a terrified scream of fear, jerking violently and trying to break his hand free. The pendulum's sharp blade was getting closer and closer each second.

Finn closed his eyes as he felt a sharp pain, looking down. The pendulum blade had stopped, but only after cutting off his pinky finger before releasing his wrist from the pedestal. "Oooow…!" Finn had tears welling in his eyes. His hand was in agony. He ripped off part of his shirt sleeve and tied it tightly around the stub that used to be his pinky finger to stop the bleeding. The glass withholding the bright orange tear shattered into pieces and Finn heard the echoing loud screech of the monster from before. It was coming back for a second attempt on the young boy's life.

"H-how do I use this thing?" Finn muttered quietly while picking up the orange tear. One touch though, and the tear instantly vanished. "What the… oh no! Where did it go?!" he cried since he thought it was the important item he was told to get, though he felt a sharp pain ring through his head. "W-what the… glob…?" he silently said as the color of his left eye became bright orange. He could see now see the view of a completely different person.

Finn's sight was blurred by an orange tint, but he could see something rushing along the floor of the temple in this maze-esque environment. Finn could spot the skinny arms of the monster, which came to conclusion that he was seeing through the eye of the monster. He could tell that it was coming from the same path where he had entered the room through. Finn instantly ran down another path to escape. It was very confusing for him to be seeing someone else's view in one eye and his own view in the other eye. He just closed his other eye to ignore it.

Finn arrived to the same room which he had first entered in the temple. "Okay… okay… so… how do I get out of here?" he questioned. The door wasn't open anymore but he was curious if perhaps the monster could help him. He opened his left eye to see the monster's view that was crouched down in front of a wall and strangely writing words with blood. This terrified him, but he saw the word after it was finished. "Cah?" Finn read and wondered aloud, confused. Just then, he heard the loud rumbling of the stone door behind him slowly opening. Finn smiled. "Wait… the mantra! That's the mantra! Yes! I got the item to…" he cheered, though while viewing the monster's sight, he suddenly saw it snap around and begin to make a mad dash down one of the many corridors.

"Uh oh," Finn said while closing his left eye again. He got his sword off his back, hearing the loud roars of the monster that was echoing like it was piercing right into his ear. He saw the monster lunge from the darkness, its hands flailing at him and trying to claw at him. Finn kicked it back. He jumped at it, swinging his sword and stabbing it through the monster's chest, pinning it to the floor. The monster weakly reached towards him, its growls turning into light noises, but now Finn could get a better view at the monster. To his surprise, it was a goblin, but its skin was charred black like it had been burnt alive. He wondered what had been keeping the poor monster alive all this time. Finn ripped his sword out of its chest. "Sorry about this," he muttered, stabbing it in the head and putting an end to its life.

Finn began to walk out of the temple, dragging his sword on the ground. He was wondering how people would react to him having an orange eye and a blue eye now, but his orange eye wasn't looking through the monsters vision anymore. It was something he welcomed, but he knew to tell Peppermint Butler what he had gone through. After all he had nearly sacrificed his whole hand, in the fittingly named Temple of Sacrifice.

End of Chapter 5


	6. Chapter 6 A friends motivation

Chapter 6: A Friend's Motivation

Finn arrived back in the library through the secret entrance. The bookshelf behind him closed to cover up the tunnel again. He was panting, as the horrific experience he went through in the Temple of Sacrifice had made him worried to his core about what would happen at the next temple, but what worried him even more was how people would react to seeing him with a finger missing and one eye being a completely different color. Finn suddenly came up with the idea to keep his right eye closed completely until he thought it could be helpful in the future. Finn began to search through the Candy Castle for Peppermint Butler.

Finn found Peppermint Butler cleaning around the courtyard entrance room as he approached him. Before they could give each other a greeting, Peppermint Butler stepped back in fear. "O-oh, hello, Finn… are you okay?" he questioned. "Y-yeah, I am. I got into the temple. There was a monster in it, and I got what I needed from it," he explained what had occurred in there. The butler was always curious about what was in the temple ever since he had started keeping it a secret. "Do you require medical aid?" Peppermint Butler asked worriedly. "Nah, man. I just… I need to go visit a friend. See ya," Finn bid him farewell before leaving the Candy Castle, beginning to exit the kingdom entirely, hoping Bubblegum wouldn't mind his sudden depart.

Finn walked through the plains of the Land of Ooo. He felt tired, but he was just ignoring it. His body ached and complained from all the running he had done within the temple. He was snapped from his thoughts when he arrived to a familiar cave where inside of it in the near distance was Marceline's home. He spotted the vampire queen herself who was working on a broken window. "Hey, Marcy!" Finn called out to her, his voice somewhat echoing throughout the cave, catching her attention. "Oh hey, Finn! You're back! Did you finally find your heroic self?" Marceline questioned, seeing him come over to her while she was working on the broken window. "No, but I'm close. Hey, what happened to your window?" he responded curiously.

"Played a really bad note. Shattered it by accident," Marceline answered once she finished putting it up. She turned around to see him since the last time she saw him was three long months ago, though she did not expect to be somewhat surprised by him. The fact that he had some blood on his hand was a start, but then seeing his missing pinky finger and his orange eye that felt like it was staring into her soul. "Whoa…! What happened to you?" Marceline couldn't help but question her good friend. She could now hardly make eye contact without it feeling somewhat creepy to her. "It's a long story…" he simply said. "Well, come on inside," she said, actually interested in hearing what happened to him.

After a while of talking, Finn had explained all he had been through in the past three months, and what had happened recently at the Temple of Sacrifice, though the more she listened, the more she was stunned that he was even risking his life to do anything like that. "And you still don't believe you're a hero?" she questioned. "Nope. Not until I complete this… until I get whatever this fortune teller told me about. I'm no better than I was when I first left," Finn exclaimed. After all of that trouble, he still wasn't ready to consider himself as a hero yet unless every item the fortune teller mentioned was acquired. During the time, Marceline treated him for some of his injuries like his finger and some of the scrapes and bruises on his body.

"Well, at least you're close. Why don't you get Jake to help? I'd do it but I really am not in the mood to risk my life," Marceline responded. Finn shook his head. "No way. He's done enough for me. Besides, if I don't do this, I'm worried what I might do…" he claimed, having not told Marceline about his vision of his deep dark future, thinking that sharing it would not be the best thing to bring up in the conversation. "So where is this next temple?" Marceline asked, knowing he probably felt a lot better talking to her whenever he had a problem.

"No idea. But, I think I know someone who might," Finn said with a smirk, standing up. "Right then. Good luck, Finn, with whatever it is you're looking for," Marceline told him. Before Finn could walk away, he wrapped his around her, embracing her into a hug. "I don't know where I'd be without you. Thanks Marceline. I owe you big time," he claimed. The vampire queen received a light blush from this response, but she didn't complain as she smirked. "No prob. If you get hurt and are nearby, just come by and I'll help you," she reassured to at least treat his injuries. It was the least she could offer. Finn finally broke the hug and left her home, not wanting to bother her any longer. He set off to continue his search for the next temple.

Finn traversed through a mountainous terrain that was nestled nearby the Ice Kingdom. The ground was mainly gravel and dirt. Finn picked up a rock from the gravel with a grin before he pocketed it. "Hey, Flambo! Are you there?" he yelled while reaching towards a higher view point of the mountain. "Yo, over here, kid," he heard, looking over at another section of the mountain. He saw another friend of his, a small flambit that had a Bronx accent. He and Jake considered Flambo an informant for important information when they needed it. Finn was just hoping he could help in any way.

"What is it you need me for this time?" Flambo questioned. Finn crouched down so he wasn't standing over the short flambit. "I was wondering if you knew any kind of temple that couldn't be opened," Finn explained what he wanted. A fiery hand was held out to him.

"You knows my usual fee," Flambo said. Normally he took a piece of charcoal for his payment. Finn just gave a smirk, pulling out the rock he picked up earlier and holding it out to Flambo, but not letting him grab it. "Info first, then your payment," he said, not wanting him to find out it wasn't a real piece of charcoal. "Ah, fines. Yeah, there was something weird in the west side of the Fire Kingdom. The king thoughs has a guard set up outside it. Nothing bigs," he explained before they were overtook by silence. The flambit sighed in irritation, knowing he wanted more than that. "Could you cast that flame shield on me?" Finn asked. He could not stand a chance in the Fire Kingdom for one minute without the flame shield spell. "Fine, fine…" Flambo began chanting a line of strange words before Finn became surrounded by a strange blue aura around his body.

Finn was hoping that this weird thing that Flambo told him about was what he was looking for. He threw Flambo the rock, and he caught it, but giving a look of not being amused. "Hey, come on, man!" Flambo complained. "Find FP. She'll cover me," Finn told him, referring to the Flame Princess, his girlfriend that resided in the land of Ooo. Finn stood up and began to run off in an eager excitement. However, he had a hesitant fear of what he might find at the next temple, and he just hoped that the information wasn't wrong.

End of Chapter 6


	7. Chapter 7 The temple of honesty

Chapter 7: The Temple of Honesty

Finn had arrived to the Fire Kingdom, where he could see the bright blazing landscape before him. Everything was bright red. He hesitantly entered. The flame shield that Flambo had used on him was thankfully keeping him safe. He entered the Fire Kingdom, giving small waves and greetings to the citizens who lived up to the kingdom's name. They were living beings of fire. He was mainly ignoring most of the kingdom and heading straight for the west side of the Fire Kingdom like Flambo had informed him. He didn't know what to look out for though, but he knew there was to be a guard stationed outside of the temple. It was important if the Fire King couldn't open it, and Finn was somewhat worried about it at one point, but it was most likely a long time ago.

Finn arrived to the west side of the Fire Kingdom, where it was mainly empty at most, but new housing was being made here. He just glanced around before noticing a fiery guard with a chest plate for armor and a spear walking by. Finn gave a smirk. "Okay… now how do I use this eye?" he muttered to himself, wondering how he could look through other people's vision. He just concentrated and thought of the fiery guard, and suddenly his orange eye gave a brief glimmer before Finn could finally see through the guard's right eye.

"Alright," Finn quietly cheered for himself, believing that following the guard was the best option for him. He secretly began to stalk the flaming guard, keeping his distance from him because even if he got out of the teenage boy's view, he knew where it went. It was jarring though to be looking through someone else's eye, but he didn't complain. He enjoyed having a power of his own. He always felt weak and somewhat worthless when compared to anyone like his older brother.

After a while of following, the flaming guard's every move had lead Finn to the outskirts of the Flame Kingdom, where a river of lava rested, with the hot magma bubbling away. Finn noticed the guard standing on a set of steps that lead downwards to a stone door that was resting on top of the lava. Random symbols were carved on the door, and they were unreadable, just like on the stone door of the Temple of Sacrifice. It was exactly the temple that Finn was looking for.

Finn just switched his vision back to normal before approaching the guard that immediately aimed his spear at him. "Halt! Who goes there?" he sternly asked. "I am Finn. The Flame king sent me to round up his guards around town! Everyone is wanted to return now!" Finn lied that the many fire people had been gathering at the castle. The guard stood there, somewhat doubting it. "I don't know. This is an important job for me. …fine, but will you cover my post?" he asked. Finn nodded, accepting to do the guard's job while he was away. The guard didn't hesitate to run off out of fear of the Flame King's anger if he disobeyed.

Finn just walked down the steps to the stone door. He began to wipe his hand across it. The random words carved on it were confusing, yet Finn could feel his eyes scanning the writing on the slab. He could read one word, but he didn't know whether he was going insane or not. Otherwise, Finn could only make out one word. "Honesty" Finn scratched his chin, wondering how he could get the door open. He remembered last time when he got the Temple of Sacrifice's door to open where he had made his hand bleed on it. He pulled his sword off his back and cut the palm of his hand, causing a small amount of blood to pour out of it. He smeared his blood on the door, but no reaction was made. Finn regretted even considering it a second time.

"Well that was stupid…" Finn mumbled. He sat there, trying to think of other ways to get the door open. He was leaning his back on the stone gate while sitting there, lost in his thoughts, having flashbacks of the fight with the Ice King and how both could have been killed that day. "Ever since I started adventuring, everyone's worried about me getting hurt. I could never tell anyone, but I'm always afraid of dying," Finn told himself. He was just trying to get his fears out of his mind by talking about them, aloud and alone. Suddenly he felt the ground shake. He saw a vibrant blue light illuminate around him. The door to the temple was opening. He stood up in awe. The shimmering blue light was nearly blinding him, but he couldn't help but stare at it.

The door to the Temple of Honesty was now open, and Finn made no hesitation to head inside. Upon entering, the stone slab slammed shut behind him. Finn looked around. The entrance was a staircase descending downwards. Finn was somewhat hesitant to traverse the steps, mainly because on both sides of the stairwell were walls of lava being held back by glass. It was somehow beautiful, yet it was terrifying seeing the flaming river through that view.

Finn began to arrive at the bottom of the steps. The next room he came to had two branching paths, which made him somewhat confused, but between the two paths a statue of a knife, with a huge sword being held in front of it. Finn just went right after a random guess, wondering where he will wind up at, but it just led him through a bright red tunnel and he entered the same room again. "What the…?" he muttered, just shrugging it off. This time he went down the left path that led him down a longer corridor into another room. In that room were two stone statues sitting on tall platforms with bows at their sides, in between three branching paths.

Finn noticed something in the center of a room, a pedestal that had a gauntlet resting on the center. It was a bright blue color with a gem resting in the palm of it. "Hehehe… found the item. Now to just find the mantra," Finn said with glee, picking up the gauntlet and sliding it on, wondering what it did and how to use it.

Finn suddenly heard a loud noise, and saw the two stone archers begin to move. They were now on fire, blazing brightly as they pulled arrows off their back and began shooting at him. Finn screamed as he ripped his sword off his back, smashing one of the arrows away while another dug into his leg. He fell over in pain, ripping the arrow out of his leg. He forced himself up and tried to run past the two archers, but one grabbed him and hoisted him up into the air with its stone cold grip, trying to choke him. Finn just punched it in the face, smashing its head into rubble. It fell over, letting him go. Finn stabbed his sword into the chest of the other archer, sending its body to the floor and having the stone enemy shatter to pieces upon impact. Finn panted after the brief fight.

"Worthless gauntlet…! What do you even do?!" he asked, taking out his frustration at the inanimate object. He tried to continue down the middle path, but it was blocked by a strange stone boulder. "Darn it. This place is so old, it's practically falling apart," he exclaimed, trying to push the boulder. Suddenly, it felt super easy, like he was stronger. The gauntlet glowed slightly brighter. Finn began shoving it down the corridor until he finally exited into a room with three stone statues of warriors, wielding large swords.

Finn was afraid to move one step, but they seemed motionless. Finn spotted a blank wall behind the three stone swordsmen, though he noticed one of the statues sticking out in the center while the other two were in the corners of the room. Finn then had an idea. He leaned on the middle statue and began pushing. He pushed it to the center of the wall and heard a click sound, watching part of the wall lower slowly.

When the wall finished lowering, it revealed a set of large glass windows, but they were placed in such a way that it made up a word. "Ahm…?" Finn muttered. Lava was pouring into the back of the windows, vibrantly lighting up the room in a spectacular way. "So the mantra… is Ahm?" he asked, and just like that, the stone swordsman instantaneously came to life, lighting itself ablaze. It twisted its sword and hit the glass that suppressed the lava, breaking it to pieces. Finn let out a shriek of fear as the lava started pouring into the temple, filling it like a bathtub. The stone statues melted upon being effected by the lava. He immediately ran away, the sea of lava chasing him after. The flame shield spell could only protect him from so much, but it wasn't strong enough to protect him from large pools of lava.

Finn ran for the entrance, where not only the tall set of steps he entered through waited for him, but also an animate stone swordsman at the top of the steps. "Outta my way, stonehead!" Finn just gripped his bright red sword before charging up the steps to battle it. The stone swordsman swung its huge blade down at him, but Finn blocked it with his gauntlet, seeing some stone chunks and dust fly off as a result, the ancient sword being so weak. As the battle was about to rage on, the wave of lava was quickly rising up the steps. Finn stabbed his sword into the knee of the stone warrior and watched its leg shatter into pieces as it fell down the steps, breaking into pieces before landing in the lava, every one of its broken remains sinking into it.

Finn limped his way out with his injured leg, panting over where the arrow had hit. He got to the entrance of the temple, hoping that the way to open the door was the same way he opened the entrance of the Temple of Sacrifice. "Ahm!" he shouted, as the door glowed bright blue and began to open up. Once it was wide enough, Finn squeezed himself through, and the stone slab closed shut, right before the lava could touch him.

Finn sat there, panting. "I did it… whooo…" he cheered in a weak tone before passing out, groaning. "It's… so hot…" he mumbled. The arrow that had pierced his leg had partially broken his flame shield, and his temperature had only been rising since then. He passed out from being overheated. The last thing he saw was the vague image of two fire people approaching him.

End of Chapter 7


	8. Chapter 8 The flame king

Chapter 8: The Flame King

Finn awoke from his short moment of unconsciousness. He felt much cooler than he did when he passed out from his temperature being too high. He looked around, finding himself in some sort of stone prison cell with iron bars. He got up, groaning. His leg had been slightly healed but still had an injury mark from the arrow he took. Finn's sword was gone, but he still had his gauntlet from the Temple of Honesty. Finn went up to the bars, looking around. A fiery guard was standing by the wall. "Hey! What am I in here for?" he asked, wondering what exactly he did wrong to be put in the Flame King's dungeon like this, since he knew this was definitely the dungeon.

"Silence, you! The Flame King wants to talk with you soon," the guard said, ignoring him like a fly. Finn just sat there. His gauntlet enhanced his strength a lot in his one arm, so it gave him an idea. He began pulling on the bars, but they wouldn't budge. They were far too strong for him to just rip off. "Hmm… what would Jake do in this situation? …He'd slip through the bars, but that isn't an option…" Finn mumbled to himself. He didn't have any special stretching powers like his older brother did, though out of an outburst of rage, he punched the iron bars with his gauntlet, putting a small dent in them. The aged bars were unable to handle his gauntlet's power. Finn had a devious smirk, having an idea and coming up with a plan.

Later that night, when the guard had fallen asleep, Finn decided that was the best time to put his plan into action. Every now and then, he would punch the iron bar to put a bigger dent into it. He had to wait a few minutes after each blow so the guard wouldn't wake up. Finn punched the bar one more time with his full strength, breaking it off and smashing it into the floor of the dungeon. Finn climbed out of his cell through the bars, while the guard was just lying against the wall nearby, still asleep. Finn ran away in a random direction. He had no idea about the layout of the dungeon or where everything was, but he had to find his father's sword and escape. At the same time, he was curious about how long he was unconscious.

Finn found himself in the throne room. It was odd shaped, resembling more like an arena with multiple rows of seats on each side. Flame King was sitting on his throne, with Finn's red sword lying beside it. "There you are. I was just about to send for you," he claimed. The Flame King was the father of his girlfriend. He wore giant bulky armor, and his body was blazing brightly when compared to any other fire being around the kingdom.

"Give me my sword back. Why did you throw me in there in the first place?" Finn asked since he was unsure about what laws he had broken in the Fire Kingdom. "I thought you'd be more grateful that we refreshed your flame shield, but for all we knew, you entered a temple that was supposed to be sacred," Flame King explained. Finn never really considered what the fire kingdom saw the temple as, though it did explain why it was being guarded. He wound up feeling somewhat guilty.

"So, how has my daughter been?" Flame King asked. Finn looked away awkwardly. "She's been great. So… can I go now?" he asked. The Fiery King just snapped his fingers in response. Finn could then see multiple guards entering the room, at least six of them came in simultaneously with spears, swords and axes. One charged at him with his spear, jabbing at him. Finn dodged it and grabbed the spear, punching the guard in the face and knocking him out. Finn spun around like a top, smashing two of the guards away with the spear before they could get a split second to attack him.

Another flaming guard however was given the upper hand as he slammed his ax into Finn's shoulder. He screamed in pain, punching the guard away with his gauntlet before prying the ax out from his shoulder. Before the last two guards could attempt to assault him, they were interrupted by a laughter and applause from the Flame King. Finn was glaring at him, panting before seeing his sword get thrown to him.

"You have more than earned my daughter's hand. Anyone as tough as you would make a great evil prince," the Flame King said. Finn just picked up his father's sword before looking over at the fiery guards that he knocked out. He had no response other than panting. He was literally being told that he was perfect for being an evil tyrant. Finn didn't even know if the Flame King being happy about it was a good thing. "You're free to go," the Flame King announced. Finn looked to the entrance. He put his sword on the side of his green backpack before beginning to walk out, his shoulder bleeding and running down his arm. Finn was trying to think of where the next temple could be, and he was considering consulting his informant again.

Finn exited the Fire Kingdom, his flame shield beginning to fade while traversing the land. He began to feel lightheaded as the blood loss was starting to take effect. He began to feel woozy, and just decided to sit down under a tree and take a rest. The words that the Flame King said kept ringing through his head, even in his sleep. He refused to become anywhere evil like foretold by the fortune teller before, as he knew that he had to find the next temple, no matter where it was.

End of Chapter 8


	9. Chapter 9 The temple of spirituality

Chapter 9: The Temple of Spirituality

After passing out under a tree due to blood loss, Finn had woken up. He stood up, looking to the sky. The sun was barely on the horizon, so he knew that meant it was early in the morning. He just sighed, wondering where he could possibly find the next temple in, still afraid of what trial he will face next to get the item there. He thought of an idea, thinking of someone else who might be able to help him. Finn stood up. "I need to get to the Ice Kingdom…" he muttered before starting the long journey from the Fire Kingdom to the Ice Kingdom.

A couple of hours had passed, and Finn arrived to the Ice Kingdom. The tall mountains that blocked out the sun brought the memories flooding back. He had and all the fun he had, saving the various princesses with his big brother. The snow was falling from the sky, being blown by a heavy wind. Finn was walking towards the Ice King's fortress. Just looking at the giant looming domain of ice brought back bad memories to the day when he nearly murdered the Ice King. Finn began to climb up the fortress entrance. If any form of ice or snow enemy got in his way, he would just slice it away, and if a penguin tried to stop him, he would just slide them aside.

The Ice Fortress hadn't changed very much in the past few months, the decorations being nothing but ice, ice, and more ice. Finn reached a door at the top of a stairwell. Finn took in a deep breath, exhaling and opening the door, having so many bad memories coming back that were still from the horrific result of the fight. "Yo, anyone home?" he called out. The icy room made his voice echo a bit. He looked at the window that was used to overview the kingdom. He suddenly heard a strange noise and felt a chilling pain over take him. He looked down, seeing his entire body excluding his head frozen.

"Haha! Got you this time!" the Ice King's voice echoed. Finn couldn't see him until he was turned around to face the Ice King. Staring at Finn's orange eye somewhat scared him, but that was an expected reaction at this point. Finn was not really showing much anger. He was too focused on talking to his old foe. "Yeah, yeah, you got me. Listen, dude. Can we at least talk?" Finn asked. The Ice King hesitated, but sighed. "Oh, fine… It's been kinda boring without you," he answered. Without Finn to fight over kidnapped princesses, life had been boring for him. He lost his reason to keep him trapped. The Ice King let him out of the ice.

"Listen, I'm looking for temples… dungeons… you know, weird things that aren't able to be opened?" Finn questioned while trying to ignore the shivering urge that was harassing him since he set foot in the kingdom. It was starting to reach the point where his fingers felt tingly.

"Oh…? Yeah, my penguins found something weird a loooong time back. I just forgot about it… Gunter!" the Ice King called for someone. Finn saw a penguin slide into the room on its stomach. It stood up and greeted them with a "wak" noise. "Gunter, bring Finn to that weird thing we found in the north," the ice king ordered. Gunter nodded beginning to waddle off ahead of Finn. "Uh, thanks, Ice King…" Finn said awkwardly, not sure how to respond to a person that he beat up on a regular basis. "Stay cool…" Finn awkwardly muttered before leaving to follow Gunter back out into the cold snow.

Finn followed Gunter across the snowy wasteland. He could feel his arms and hands starting to feel tingly. He couldn't help but start shivering now. He just tried to keep walking, his sore legs wanting him to stop and just fall asleep on the blanket of snow. Just then, something began coming into view through the white snow that continued to fall from the sky. Finn found a stone door with more of the odd writing on it. Gunter just waddled off after escorting Finn to the next temple like he was told to by the Ice King.

Finn looked at the door and rubbed his hand across it. The words were just as much gibberish as they were before, but Finn could make out one of the words. "Spirituality…" Finn didn't know what to do with it. He barely had any strength left. "I need… to rest…" he muttered, sitting down and leaning against the door, sighing. "I just… need to… rest my eyes…" Finn mumbled while his heart was beating slowly. He was staring at the blank sky. He closed his eyes and everything went dark for a moment.

Finn suddenly woke up in a gasp, feeling completely healthy as he stood up. "Whoa…! Why do I feel so… light?" he asked. That was the only way he could describe himself at the moment. He looked behind him, seeing a vibrant white light from the stone door as it began to open, though Finn noticed something out of the ordinary. His body was slowly being covered in snow, lying in front of the door and it began to lean backwards, about to fall down the big flight of steps. He let out a shriek of terror, looking at his hands. He could see through them. "Oh… glob…! Does that mean I'm… dead?!" he said in realization, charging at his body and throwing himself at it, but he went right through his body and down the stairwell into the Temple of Spirituality, the body itself falling down the temple shortly after.

Finn just looked at his body that lay at the bottom of the stairwell, lifeless. "Oh grod. I'm dead… but shouldn't I be going somewhere?" he asked, not sure what was supposed to happen when something died entirely. He tried not to think about it. Finn spotted a bright light trail running along the wall of the temple. The inside of the temple had carvings in it that seemed to depict someone on the ground and getting back up. Finn didn't know what they meant, being confused, but he didn't pay attention to it before beginning to follow the bright light trail.

The light led Finn to a big open room. The floor of it looked like it was made of ice. It showed his ghostly reflection, but in the center of the huge room was a strange object resting on a pedestal. Finn found a bright white ankh necklace. Before he could touch it, he suddenly saw a dark hand appear from the ice and swipe it from him. "Hey, what the…?!" he shouted. Just then, a dark version of him emerged, with red eyes staring back at him. He was gripping the ankh with its shadowy hand.

"What are you supposed to be?" Finn questioned, getting ready to fight, wishing he had his sword for the battle. The shadowy Finn figure did not say a word. It appeared to have no mouth. Finn just growled, charging for his dark doppelganger, throwing a fist. He punched the dark clone in the face, knocking it back. It felt agitated by this as it put the ankh around its neck. It kicked Finn in the gut. Finn mentally questioned if he was even a ghost as he could feel anything. He had a snap of rage as he tackled his dark doppelganger to the ground and began throwing a flurry of punches at his face. He didn't stop punching him until there was no movement from his foe. Finn reached down, grabbing the ankh, only to be blinded by a bright white light. Once again, Finn fell unconscious.

Finn woke back up, immediately gasping and panting. He was inside the temple and he had his body back. He could see the ankh dangling from his neck and resting on his chest. He stood up, looking into the temple. "Hey… I got my body back…! Awesome! …Now to find the mantra…" he muttered, continuing down the corridor he had already passed when he was a ghost, but this time he noticed that the path to the room he fought his doppelganger in was blocked off, confusing him.

Finn just went down the other corridor. He was looking at the drawings on the walls of everyone worshipping the person who had the ankh. "So this thing… brought me back to life?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, wondering if he died at all or if that was the key to the temple. After a short time, he found another dead end, but on the wall was a phrase that was chiseled carefully. "Our minds can go where our bodies can't. Our minds see no boundaries," Finn had a raised eyebrow. He had an idea and sat down and leaned on the wall. He was trying to mimic the carvings on the wall, taking in a deep breath, closing his eyes and trying to relax. It felt odd to him to be doing this as he began to hold his breath.

The ankh started to glow a bright white, and in an instant, he was outside of his body again, and now the wall behind him was gone. Finn just smirked. "Wow… this is… amazing," he said, not sure whether to consider himself dead or not. He continued down the corridor, noticing small icicles on the ceiling, but he again came across a dead end and noticed a bright white writing on the wall. "Om…" Finn just stared at it for a second. "Om?" he repeated. Right after he felt the temple shake. The surprised Finn noticed the icicles begin to fall from the ceiling and dive to the floor in a chain. Finn had to hurry back or his body would get injured while he was gone.

Finn made a mad dash for his body and jumped back into it, merging with it once more. He coughed and breathed heavily. It always felt heavy on his body. Finn noticed the temple ceiling begin to fall apart on top of the icicles. Finn just ran for the entrance, dodging the many pieces of rubble and ice that got in his way.

Once he reached the entrance, Finn just was about to run up the steps, seeing the entrance wide open for him, but beginning to close. Finn felt something grab his foot and trip him halfway up the stairs. He slammed into the stairwell in agony. He looked back, finding his dark doppelganger gripping his ankle. "You again? Sorry, buddy, I don't know what your deal is, but I gotta leave," Finn spoke in irritation, ripping his sword off his back and stabbing the arm of the shadowy clone, making it let go. Finn threw himself through the door and out of the temple panting. He could see the evil red eyes of his doppelganger as the temple door fully closed. Finn lay on the snow for a while, looking at the pure white clouds in the sky as the snow continued to fall on him.

"…what am I becoming?" Finn couldn't help but question himself. Doing so was making him feel more like a villain, but he knew it was to prevent a horrible future. It felt great to Finn to have powers, but somehow felt so wrong at the same time. He didn't feel human. Not anymore. As far as he was concerned, he felt like a monster.

End of Chapter 9


	10. Chapter 10 Sonata's song

Chapter 10: Sonata's Song

Finn was wandering through the massive snowy wasteland of the Ice Kingdom after getting the ankh from the temple. He was lost in his thoughts. He kept hearing a voice repeating the words in his head. "A failure… a monster… a villain…" Finn was worried about not being able to prevent the dark future that had been predicted for him. His footprints in the snow were being quickly covered up one step after the other. Finn overlooked himself. He looked at his bloody shoulder which had barely healed, and he was starting to question if it was infected. He looked at the injury in his knee. It was becoming harder to walk. He hadn't noticed until now, though he knew he had no items to treat his injuries with. Suddenly he had a revelation and looked towards the obscured view of the sun. "I need to get to Marceline's!" Finn exclaimed to himself, continuing to trek through the snow as fast as his injured leg would let him.

Finn walked fast through the Land of Ooo again. It was nice to be back in the warm sun and out of the cold snow. He had a smile on his face once he arrived to his friend's cave. He didn't hesitate to march to her front door and knock on it, hoping she wouldn't question him about the ankh or the power gauntlet he had acquired. The door opened, the vampire queen herself floating there. "Oh hey, Finn- whoa…!" she greeted him, but was shocked upon sight of his injuries "I'm guessing you're here to get those treated?" Marceline asked, letting him inside, presuming that the reason for his visit was for medical assistance.

"Well yeah, for one thing anyway. I came to ask for a big favour. It's really important, Marcy," Finn exclaimed while taking a seat in her living room. He had her attention grabbed. "Okay. What is it?" she hesitated to interrogate him about what he wanted. It was awkward to her. He was seemingly very happy over whatever this was. "I need you to… well… I want you to kill me!" Finn blurted out. He thought that dying was the easier and better method of avoiding the terrible future. It was possible that he might die either way on this dangerous quest.

Marceline was frozen stiff from the initial shock at first. She then glared at him. "Are you insane?! I can't just kill you for the sake of it!" she snapped back, not wanting to harm her friend. "Please, Marcy! If I don't die, something terrible is going to happen in a few months. I can't live with this guilt, knowing what I might do is worse than what I nearly did to the Ice King…" Finn pleaded, only to receive a punch to the face, getting his mouth to close shut. "Do you even hear yourself? What are you even talking about?!" Marceline responded. She was somewhat infuriated at him for asking to be killed. Finn had to come clean now after the breakdown and beg for death.

"…I found a fortune teller, and in a couple of months, she showed my future. It was about me killing my brother by a demolished Candy Kingdom. Either I find all these items to stop it or I die," Finn explained to her the best he could, but he had begun tearing up, looking at the floor, just at the thought of being a murderous crook.

Marceline just sighed, holding her head. She knew that he was upset about everything that happened. "And you think death is the best option out of those two?" she asked. Finn just shrugged. "Well… I'm just a pain to everyone at this point," he mumbled. "Well not to me. As much as I'd love to get an easy taste of blood, I can't do it. We need you, Finn. You're a hero no matter what," she argued back, reassuring him. As she spoke, it was going to get dark soon. "I'll go get the medical kit. You can spend the night if you want," she offered. "…Alright. Thanks, Marcy… and sorry," he apologized for bringing up this subject of death. Marceline patted his shoulder, easily forgiving him for this like it was nothing.

The night went pretty, normally between the two of them. She treated his injuries with all of her medical experience, but Finn noticed at one point where she was getting her bass axe guitar. It was an instrument that doubled as a weapon when needed. Marceline was tuning it, having practiced with it a lot. "Hey, uh… do you mind if I listen?" he asked her. "Yeah, sure. I just need to try and finish this song. Only the beginning is written, really…" Marceline admitted. She was trying to finish a song, but now she was thinking that perhaps Finn could assist with adding more lyrics while listening to what she had so far.

Marceline strummed her guitar slightly before beginning to hum until it got to a certain point. "_Lost like a child, I searched aimlessly. The sky hanging overhead like a graveyard, although my life is changing like ink, on a map that is caught in the pouring rain…_" Marceline stopped at that point. She just was strumming her guitar, having run out of lyrics. Finn smirked, standing up, having always enjoyed joining her in a song. "_Although I am small and my strides barely make any impact. I can go beyond the clouds in the sky, to a place that's alive. But just like dancing in the dark you slip through like a knife to cut your way right to my heart, to see a bright light in a new path,_" Finn sang while she continued to play her guitar. Marceline smiled, somewhat liking the lyrics before beginning to sing with him.

"_That is calling softly to me. I can break through to the other side of this, though I won't forget what's left behind. Unknowingly embedded like a thought from a dream. We're surrounded by sticker stars, black and white, that's something precious that we chose to hide out of fear of our rainbow world,_" they sang before Marceline continued it solo. "_Like from the stars up above,_" Finn took over the solo singing act for a moment. "_Or the colors of the flowers that bloom out of love,_" they both looked to each other before singing the last lyrical line together. "_In a treasure chest from a false vision, that we're both sharing, like a hologram,_" they finished, Marceline strumming her guitar one last time before Finn was panting to regain his lost breath. The vampire queen herself was writing it down on paper.

"Not really my kind of song, but I didn't mind it. Thanks for the help, Finn," Marceline thanked him before holding out the musical sheet of paper with the lyrics written on it to him. Finn took it with a raised eyebrow. "Don't you want this?" he asked. "Nah, you keep it. Try to get some rest," she declined Finn's question and bid him goodnight. Marceline took her equipment upstairs, letting him sleep on her couch. Finn felt much better after hanging out with her. She always knew how to cheer him up. However, Finn knew that he had to find the next temple tomorrow, so he just tried to enjoy his night rest while he still had it.

End of Chapter 10


	11. Chapter 11 The temple of compassion

Chapter 11: The Temple of Compassion

It was early in the morning, and Finn was awake, yawning tiredly. He was still asleep on Marceline's couch. He was remembering what had happened this last night, the song and him begging for death, and just looking back on it made him feel dumb. "I need to find Flambo…" he told himself, hoping his friend wouldn't mind him leaving while she was asleep, but he was mostly hoping for Flambo to have information on another temple, for he was lacking any other ideas on where to go, and wandering randomly wasn't much of a good idea. Finn walked out the door, leaving his house and his friend's cave, and setting back off into Ooo on his own again, the ankh dangling from his neck. Finn had to go and talk to his informant, and this instant.

After a short time, Finn found himself near the Fire Kingdom again, and he was waiting around on a rock, waiting for Flambo. "Hey there, kid," he heard, looking behind him. Flambo approached him, still blazing brightly. "Oh hey, Flambo," Finn greeted him, getting up and crouching down to his height. "What is it you need to know now?" the flambit asked with his arms crossed, still not too happy after being tricked into giving info for a piece of gravel instead of real coal. "Well I was hoping you'd know where another temple is… and I brought you real payment this time," the teenage boy reassured, showing a piece of charcoal that he acquired before coming to meet him.

"Real Charcoal…! Great!" Flambo happily took the charcoal and ate it in one bite. It made him blaze brighter for a brief moment. "Thanks. Well, I only know about one other temple," he answered. Finn smirked, glad to know his informant could be relied on, no matter what he wanted to know. "One is off in the mountains to the east, but that's pretty much all I know, kid. Good luck," Flambo told him, trying not to look at his orange eye since it drew the most attention. He just walked away without another word. "Thanks, Flambo" he told him before running off in a flash of excitement, he realized that this might be a little difficult to find temple.

Finn walked through the Land of Ooo. It was bright and sunny, which Finn always enjoyed. What he knew though was that a mountainous terrain might prove it hard to find a single temple door. There were many fields of trees, and it was somewhat hard to climb areas, not to mention the fact that the door might have been covered up over the years due to age. Finn tried not to think of it for too long, but he could then see the mountains in the near distance. Finn took in a deep breath before beginning to walk up to begin his search for the next temple.

After spending most of the day until the afternoon, searching around for the entrance to the temple, he so far couldn't find anything. Finn sighed while walking through a small bunch of trees. He suddenly noticed a light on the other side going through them. Finn spotted a campfire and a familiar person by it.

"Hey… fortune teller lady?" Finn called out, surprised to see her in the mountains. It was indeed the same person who sent him on the quest in the first place. "Hello, evil one," the fortune teller greeted him. Finn sighed, with a sheer dislike he had for being called evil. "Yeah, don't call me that, please. I've gotten a few of the items and mantras," Finn said happily glad to have three of the items and mantras so far. "So is my future looking any brighter?" he continued to interrogate her, curiously hoping that his future will look much better. "It looks… worse. I suggest you hurry. Nine months is all the time you have left," the fortune teller answered. Finn felt guilty in an instant for the bits of time wasting on this quest so far, but he knew he couldn't give up at this point.

"Okay… do you know where the temple is? One is supposed to be here," Finn asked in a blunt tone, the same way one's tone would be while asking the rain to go away. "It's closer than you'd imagine…" the fortune teller answered, pointing out a boney finger to a nearby bunch of trees. Finn, with his eyebrow rose, looked to the fortune teller. She refused to look away from the crystal ball in her hands. Finn just began to cut through the thick trees and bushes. He spotted a wall of vines, pulling out his sword and swinging it once, cutting them all down. Finn watched the vines collapse to the ground to see a large stone door behind it.

Finn looked at the big door with the strange writings on it. Only one word he could make out was Compassion. "Huh… how do I open this one?" he questioned with his eyebrow raised once more. Usually he opened them just by being lost in his own thoughts.

Finn sat down in front of the stone slab. The sun was going down already. He felt like the day had begun and it was already ending after what felt like a couple hours flat. Finn just sat there, sighing. He put his backpack down on the ground beside him and dug through it, pulling out the musical sheet with the song he made with Marceline. Finn just looked over the music, humming the song to himself. He did get a light blush, overseeing the lyrics. "Oh man… I said those things?" he said, barely able to remember how he came up with the lyrics in the first place. It did make him happy though to think of the night before. Suddenly he saw a bright yellow light shimmer from the door as it began to open. "Aha…! Must be my lucky day," Finn told himself, putting the musical sheet in his backpack and putting it on his back. Finn entered the temple of compassion, the door slamming shut behind him.

Upon entering the temple, Finn could see that in the entrance were multiple routes to separate stairwells with flows of water going down in between them, like waterfalls. Vines were also surrounding the walls. "Wow… talk about beautiful…" he muttered in awe before climbing up the left set of steps that led into a tight corridor. There were still a lot of vines on the ceiling. Finn felt somewhat creeped out by them, but he tried not to think about it. At the end of the hall, he noticed a stairwell leading to a pedestal with grass and vines growing on it. On the center of it was a beautiful yellow rose.

Finn was unable to stare at it for five seconds, as noticed a familiar pair of red eyes beginning to appear in the darkness. "Hey! What the glob are you doing here?" he asked. His dark doppelganger was back. Finn wondered how his clone got there all the way from the Snow Temple to here. Finn immediately jumped down the steps and slammed hard on his side in front of the pedestal. He forced his aching body onto his feet and grabbed the yellow rose. At the same time, his shadow clone grabbed ahold of the rose too. Finn reached for his sword and pulled it off his back, swinging it at the doppelganger, making him let go and jump back. Finn took the yellow rose and put it in his shirt pocket, thinking of it as the important item. It was odd to have something that was bright red color-wise, but had a vibrant yellow aura around it.

The shadow clone got up, angered. Finn noticed weird oval shaped objects growing from the vine walls. He saw the dark doppelganger grab one of them and throw it at him. Finn cut it in half, the two parts of the strange plant landing around him and exploding, blasting him upwards near the top of the steps, making him pant and gasp in shock. "Explosive plants?!" Finn shrieked. His dark doppelganger grabbed more of the explosive fruits, throwing them at Finn. He cringed, getting ready for the worst. But then the yellow rose glowed brightly, beginning to let out streams of vines that wrapped around his arm. The rose moved along the vines and completely entangled his right arm. The rose grew bigger, and Finn shut his eyes in fear as the explosive fruit collided with it and exploded.

Finn just opened his eyes again. The rose had suddenly acted like a shield for him. Finn got a smirk before seeing another one of the explosive fruits get thrown at him. This time, Finn spun around and kicked it back with force, sending it flying back at his dark doppelganger, blasting him in an explosive impact. Finn didn't even want to see the outcome of this as he dashed ahead back down the hallway, the rose staying in its shield form.

Finn just began to make his way down the next hallway, though when he did, he was greeted by a wall of water via a heavy waterfall. He could see his own reflection within it. Finn looked at his orange eye and the vines entangling his right arm entirely. "Oh grod. What am I becoming…?!" he mumbled, the one thing he asked himself before. Finn approached the waterfall, holding the rose shield over his head and letting it block the water like an umbrella. He went through it, but could only see a dark hallway afterwards. He could then hear a skittering noise that was only getting louder the farther he went.

Finn arrived to a room that was lit by only one torch. He picked it off the wall and held it out. From what he lit up, green eyes were lingering in the darkness, and there were a lot of them. Finn dropped the torch in fear, and saw something light on fire on the ground. There were cobwebs that were slowly burning up the walls. Three big spiders were on the walls. Each one jumped down, surrounding him and screeching at him. The room was slowly being engulfed in flames since the walls were covered in fire.

Finn readied his sword, hoping he could use the rose shield better than he could last time. One of the big spiders jumped at him, but Finn smashed it back with his rose shield. Finn stabbed his sword in the head, pinning it to the floor. He ripped his sword out, turning around as another spider was jumping right at him. Finn sliced it in half, getting covered in sickening green goo that was its blood. The last spider managed to bite him in the leg, making him scream in pain. Finn kicked it back and stomped on its head, instantly killing it.

Finn was panting as he looked up at the ceiling. The fire had blazed up to there now, but once the fire began to vanish, there were letters written on the ceiling. "…M…u…Mu" was what they spelt Finn looked at them hesitantly. "Got the item… and the mantra… time to go," he said, sheathing his sword on his backpack. The rose that he had been using as a shield began to shrink again, and the vines began to retract up his arms before returning, turning back into a normal rose with a bright yellow aura in his hand. Finn smiled, putting it in his shirt pocket before heading back to the entrance of the temple.

At the entrance of the temple, Finn looked at the door and grinned. "Mu," he said. The door glowed bright yellow and began opening violently. Finn was wondering if he had actually killed his shadow doppelganger this time, but he didn't care. He left to continue his hunt for the temples, knowing he probably had more of them to go, now that he was done in the Temple of Compassion.

End of Chapter 11


	12. Chapter 12 Months later

Chapter 12: Months Later…

Four months had passed since Finn was last seen. He had been travelling throughout the Land of Ooo, searching for temples with no result until now. Finn looked slightly different now, only a little taller, and his hat now buttoned at the neck. Finn was approaching a stone door in a dark cave. He could see the words, 'honor', written on the slab. Finn stood in front of the door to the Temple of Honor. It was the first temple he had found in a while. The door glowed with a vibrant purple aura, and it began to open. Finn peered inside the darkness and began to enter inside the temple. This time the door didn't close behind him.

The entrance of the temple looked strange and circular. Nothing was noticeable, except for some small holes on the walls. Finn saw the path he entered from suddenly get blocked by a wall that rose from the floor. He then noticed an odd rushing sound slowly coming, and it was only getting louder. Water began pouring out of the holes in the wall and began pooling on the floor. "Huh… well at least it's not a death trap," Finn said, not thinking too much of it before going down the left path, since there were two paths.

Down the first path, he noticed that the entire floor was soaked in water that he was treading through. Once he reached the end of the corridor, he noticed a small platform being suspended by ropes above a small pit that had a wooden cover over it. Still feeling that it was odd, Finn was wondering what was with all the water, but he didn't care. More was pouring in from two more holes in the ceiling. He took a few steps back before making a running leap across the small pit, slamming into the side of the small platform. It shook slightly, being suspended by only ropes. He groaned pulling himself up onto it.

"Ow… what is this?" Finn questioned while holding his stomach in slightly pain. He noticed a bright purple chalice, approaching it and taking it. He was unsure about how it worked, but looking into the water inside the chalice, he noticed an odd reflection the water showing a lever. Finn raised an eyebrow, pouring the water out and putting it away, glad that he got the item. The pit he had jumped over was filling faster now, and the holes in the wall were pouring out much more water. "Ohh… the temple's going to flood… heheh… …uh oh," Finn gulped in realization behind what was going to happen if he didn't hurry up. He feared his fate of drowning inside the temple, his lungs filled with the temple's own water. He was not going to let that happen.

Finn ran through the hallway and back to the entrance, running down the other path. The water was starting to get close to his knees in length, but Finn came to a room that had a whole swimming pool worth of water inside of it. Finn looked around, spotting something at the bottom of it. He held his breath before diving into the water head first.

Finn looked around under the water before noticing his orange eye view something swimming for him from behind. A huge eel with sharp teeth was coming this way, charging at him. Finn noticed and ripped his sword off his back, swinging it fast enough to decapitate the eel, its head severed and floating away from the rest of the body. Finn was glad that his orange eye had given him the ability to see enemies in close range, and was just glad to be done with it.

Finn noticed some bright writing at the bottom of the pool. He went to inspect it close enough to actually read it. "Summ," read the words on the bottom pool floor. Finn smiled before he realized that he needed air. He swam to the surface, which seemed to take longer to get there. He let out a loud gasp once he broke out of the water, panting and gasping for air. He pulled himself out of the water and began heading back towards the entrance. The water level was now at his waist in height.

Once at the entrance, Finn wondered what to do next. The water kept was rising fast and he had no idea on how to open the door since it was blocked off by a stone wall. The mantra was unable to open it either. Finn groaned, scratching his head before suddenly coming up with an idea. He pulled out the chalice, filling it with some of the water that was now up to his stomach. "Come on, don't make me wrong…" he muttered, hoping his idea will work. The chalice showed a lever in it, the chalice showing him important things that he needed.

Finn looked up and saw the lever. He quickly grabbed some of the loose bricks from the wall and began climbing up them, using his gauntlet to help get a better grip. He finally reached the lever and grabbed it, flipping it to the other side, and thus revealed the way to the exit. Finn fell into the water and suddenly got washed out of the temple. He screamed for his life as he was being carried away by the pools of water that was like a stampede of buffalo. He slammed into various objects before blacking out in pain, after finishing the Temple of Honor.

End of Chapter 12


	13. Chapter 13 Visiting a friend

Chapter 13: Visiting a Friend

Finn woke up after being knocked unconscious during his escape from the Temple of Honor. He groaned, holding his back in pain while sitting up. He looked around, noticing the familiar place he was thrown into, the Candy Kingdom. Finn looked down, realizing that he had been washed down a river. He looked at his bruised and scratched body before forcing himself to stand. It was hard due to him being tired and worn out from so much traveling, and the fact that he had been through multiple sleepless nights. Of all places, he didn't expect to be in the Candy kingdom. He looked down at his gauntlet and removed it for a brief moment, viewing the hard candy ring that Princess Bubblegum had given him a few months back. It brought him into a slight depression, thinking of all of his friends, and the fun he was missing out on, even if he did have a journey all by himself.

Finn began to arrive to the Candy Castle. Upon entering, he was greeted by the Peppermint Butler himself. "Hello, Finn. …oh my, you certainly look different…" he claimed, seeing the gauntlet ankh and rose Finn was wearing on himself, his orange eye seemed just as creepy as it was the last time around, but Peppermint Butler could see that he had gotten taller in the past few months as well. "Thanks, Peppermint. I thought I'd see PB while I was nearby," he claimed, seeming like the same innocent child he was when he first left. "Of course, follow me," Peppermint Butler said, leading him upstairs in the castle, just glad to see him after so long since everyone had been slightly worried since the day he vanished.

Peppermint Butler had led Finn to the throne room where Princess Bubblegum could be seen, talking to multiple candy citizens that were just leaving. Bubblegum instantly grew a smile upon seeing Finn. She stepped down from the throne, approaching him. "Hello, Finn. Long time, no see," she greeted him. Finn just smirked, glad to see her not mad since the last time he was around, he had left abruptly. Bubblegum felt somewhat scared, seeing him the way he was, how much he had changed, but at the same time how little he had changed. It was just his height that had primarily changed, but his orange eye felt like it was trying to pierce her with its gaze.

"P-peppermint Butler, could you go get us some tea?" Princess Bubblegum asked. "Certainly, princess," the butler nodded before leaving the two alone. "How have things been going, PB?" Finn questioned, with a smile that looked like he had never left since the beginning. "Everything has been fine, but somewhat boring. The ice king hasn't been a problem in a while. Have you found the hero you've lost yet?" she asked, remembering his words that he couldn't even consider himself anything until he found the hero he lost. "Not yet. I'm very close though," Finn reassured with a smile. "I've even become friends with the Ice King," he claimed, much to Bubblegum's surprise. Just hearing those words felt somewhat unbelievable, but she didn't want to complain.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" Bubblegum continued to question. "Nah… you've done more than enough for me," he declared in his usual cheery tone. No matter how much he changed, Bubblegum still felt cheered up by that innocent smile of his.

The two spent the next couple of hours conversing and talking about what they had been doing the past few months, though Finn neglected to tell her about the temples and the whole reason behind his quest, but after a few hours, Finn began to leave the candy castle, but just as he was leaving, he rain heavily pattering down on him. "Finn…?" he heard and looked over his shoulder, seeing Bubblegum standing there, having had called him. "Do you still have it?" she hesitantly asked. Finn briefly stared at her before looking down at his gauntlet and removing it again, showing the candy ring on his hand as it reflected in the rain. "Of course I do," he smirked, putting his gauntlet back on before continuing to walk through the Candy Kingdom, Bubblegum watching one of her closest friends leave. She was worried that he wouldn't come back, but she always welcomed a visit.

Once outside the Candy Kingdom, Finn looked down at a nearby pond of water that was growing bigger from the rain. Finn had an idea, pulling out the chalice he had gotten at the Temple of Honor and filling it with water. "Okay… show me to the next temple," he said, looking into it, feeling like a psychic to use an item to tell him where to go. The water began to shake, the raindrops kept pouring into it, and the chalice began to show the reflection of a temple door underwater, but it looked blocked up by treasure, and lots of it. "Oh man… that's Lake Szelezon… well, this isn't going to be fun," Finn told himself, pouring the water out of the chalice before beginning to head off to the northwest.

End of Chapter 13


	14. Chapter 14 The temple of justice

Chapter 14: The Temple of Justice

Finn had spent most of the day traversing the Land of Ooo, travelling for hours on end. His legs were begging for him to stop, but he ignored the throbbing pain as some form of torture. He was lost in his thoughts for a while until he came upon the familiar Lake Szelezon. He looked inside the lake, where a large pile of treasure lay within the bottom of it. He only had to give a slight turn of his head to see the lake knights that guarded the treasure with their lives. The lake knights had dark blue skin and a light blue stomach with purple cones on their heads, with sharp teeth and lack of eyes. Finn gulped upon noticing them.

"Okay…! I can't swim in there without getting attacked, and they sure won't negotiate either…" Finn mumbled talking to himself. He sat down in front of the lake, sighing. He couldn't fight so many lake knights alone. Just then, Finn looked down at his ankh and had an idea. He took in a deep breath, letting his mind and body relax until he felt lighter than air. Finn could see himself in his ghost form again. Finn dove into Lake Szelezon, leaving his body up on land. The lake knights couldn't see him in the water as he reached the bottom and began digging around in the treasure, his ghostly form shoving some of the doubloons aside. He kept moving more and more until he finally found a big stone slab with random words written on it. He could only read the one word, "Justice".

The door glowed a vibrant bright green just in his presence. Finn immediately threw his ghostly form back into his still lying body, jumping back into it and in a gasp, forcing himself to his feet and diving back into the lake that was like a huge drain at the moment. He was just being sucked into the temple. Once inside, the door slammed shut behind him, Finn gasping and panting while sitting on a stairwell, dripping wet after diving through the lake, surprised that none of the lake knights even tried attacking him.

Finn stood up. The entrance of the temple had a statue in the center of the room that depicted a woman holding her hands together, like she was waiting for an occurrence to show up. There were doubloons scattered on the floor as well from the temple door, sucking various stuff in like a whirlpool. Finn saw only one optional path and just began to follow it. He noticed a careful brick layout of the walls that was somewhat an indication that the temple had been built moments before Lake Szelezon even existed. Finn was curious to what had made these temples, and wondered if they really were just built as a mere test for heroes to prove themselves.

Finn arrived to the end of the hall, seeing a small pool of water with a straight thin pathway across. He noticed another statue at the other end of the room, holding a small green set of balancing scales. Finn began to walk across to get the scales, but he couldn't help and feel like. He was being watched.

Finn made it to the other side and took the scales from the statue. "Thank you, ma'am," he happily told the statue before putting the scales away. He had to find the mantra to the temple, but he wondered what exactly the scales did. He was about to head back to the main room until he suddenly heard a loud growl. A giant fish monster climbed out of the water, blocking his path. It had a misshapen head, more resembling a skull, and its chest was opening and closing, revealing a red crystal. Finn rolled his eyes pulling out his red sword. The aquatic beast let out a roar before lunging at him and grabbing his sword, glaring at him in the eye. The monsters eyes were hollowed darkness, terrifying anyone who set eyes on it.

Finn pulled back his head, slamming it onto the monster and knocking it back. Finn punched it with his gauntlet, forcing it onto its back. He then stabbed his sword into its chest, shattering the red crystal that was stuck within side of it. The monster let out a faint groan of agony before dying. Finn just sheathed his sword on his backpack before continuing to the entrance of the temple, where the statue continued to hold its hand out, waiting for something to be placed on it.

Finn raised an eyebrow, pulling out the scales he had found and resting it in the palms of the statue's hand, waiting patiently. He had an idea, picking up the few doubloons from the ground and putting them on the left scale, watching the right scale ascend. Finn heard a slight rumble, noticing that the wall behind the statue moved slightly, but not enough for him to get under. He just kept putting doubloons into both sides of the scales, but he realized one problem. He didn't have enough doubloons to balance it out and open the door. "Darn it. …alright… I didn't wanna do this, but I have to," Finn mumbled. He just imagined his older brother yelling at him considering this. He pulled his sword off his back and began cutting the palm of his hand, his eyes shut tight to try and ease the pain. He held it over the right scale and began slowly pouring his blood into it. The bloody doubloons were heavy enough to balance it out, and the door behind the statue opened.

Finn entered the room. It was big, hollowed and empty inside. He saw a stain glass image that depicted a warrior in the center that looked normal, but on the right side was a dark shadowy depiction of the figure that looked ready to attack him, and on the left side was a ghostly white clear version of the warrior. "What the glob is this…?" Finn couldn't help but question. He saw the words "beh" in the top center of it all. "Beh… well that's the mantra, but what's with this?" he asked, wondering what exactly the stain glass image represented. It reminded him of his dark future, especially at the right side of the stain glass. The wordless Finn exited the room. He grabbed the scale from the statue, watching the door to the stain glass room slam shut.

Finn poured the bloody doubloons out of the scale and climbed the steps to the entrance of the temple. He just had to swim to the surface once the door opened. "Beh," Finn said as the door glowed a vibrant bright green and began to open. Water heavily poured in on him. Finn just held his breath and began swimming for the surface. Some of the lake knights spotted him and tried assaulting him. Finn had to beat them off with his sword. They cut his body up as he reached the surface, forcing himself out of the water panting. "I… hate… this lake," he said in irritation. He looked up to be greeted by a starry sky. "…night time already?" he asked himself, realizing that he had been in the temple for a long time. He then saw a campfire blazing nearby. Interested, he wondered if he could camp out with whoever had started it.

Finn approached the campsite, only to be greeted by a familiar person. "What the… you again?!" he said in surprise. It was the same fortune teller that had motivated him to start this quest. "Yes, hello again, evil one… how goes the quest?" she questioned, Finn sitting beside the campfire. "I only got two more items left to get," he explained, hating to be called evil. He said nothing else, and just spent the time sitting by the campfire with the fortune teller.

End of Chapter 14


	15. Chapter 15 Deaths embrace

Chapter 15: Death's Embrace

Finn was sitting around the campfire beside the woman he had dubbed as the fortune teller lady, drying off after his time in Lake Szelezon. He had no clear idea what else to call her and he wasn't eager to question her about any personal information, but he felt like she had been following him multiple times. They had crossed paths, and each time she usually had wisdom to offer or point him in the right direction when he was close. "So… what exactly do I have to do after I get all the items and mantras?" Finn questioned. The woman gave a creepy grin, the first time that Finn saw her eyes, the bright yellow color acting like they were trying to pierce him with their gaze. "I only know where to go with them. I presume that you have to use your items to get the item to prove that you are a heroic being," she answered. Silence took over, excluding the campfire flames' crackling noise.

"You only have a week and three days left, you know," the fortune teller broke the silence. "W-what? But you said I had a year when I first started this quest. I still got a good few months, don't I?" Finn protested since it seemed like she was contradicting previous fortunes. "That was for when you kill your brother. You had not ask me when you became evil, and you think what you do to him is bad. Perhaps you should see what you do to the vampire queen," the fortune teller answered, claiming that the time limit that was supposedly a year was for the murder of his brother, and not when he will turn evil. She motioned him to look into the crystal orb.

Finn was hesitant as he looked into the crystal orb. His eyes went wide. He forced himself away and slammed on his back on the ground, looking to the starry sky. "Oh grod! …oh grod! …oh grod!" he shouted, his voice echoing into the night. He pulled his sword off his side and held it in the air above his person, the fortune teller not moving or reacting, just lost in her crystal ball. Finn wanted to let go of his sword, just to let it pierce his brain and end his train of problems. He didn't know if a week and a few days was truly enough time to get the last two mantras and items. Finn just sighed, letting go of his sword and letting it slam into the ground beside him. "If you surely wish for death, I could just open you a portal straight to the underworld. The land of the dead that is where the next temple is," the fortune teller declared. Finn, although this would have stunned anyone, only made one twitch of a response.

"…I'll be able to come back, right?" Finn asked in the same tone that one would announce a very bad adventure. The woman approached and ran her boney hand across his face. Finn gulped upon how cold it felt. "Yes, yes. Find Death. He may probably help. And when you see him, tell him that my debt will soon be repaid," she foretold him before giving a creepy grin, the sharp teeth showing. Finn could see her look scarier, the more he questioned her. The woman began to pull out various items from the bag. She always lugged around bones, mushrooms and an odd bottle with various colored liquids inside of it. Finn put his sword on the side of his backpack, watching the fortune teller break the bones into small pieces and throw them in the bottle along with the mushrooms. She then took a stick and began mixing them together.

After a short time, Finn was presented with a bottle the multicolored liquid that was now a dark black that couldn't be seen through. "Just pour some on the ground when you're ready," the fortune teller explained. "…y-yeah. I'll give death your message if I see him," he nervously agreed before pouring half of the black goo from the bottle on the ground. It spread on the ground and began glowing bright. "Jump on in…" the fortune teller hummed. Finn would not take one glance at her before diving head first through the portal and into the underworld. The black goo vanished after he entered, but resulted in him shortly losing consciousness.

Finn woke up, panting after a few minutes of entering the portal to the underworld that felt like he had been nearly killed just travelling to it. He didn't expect dimensional travel to have such a painful effect on him. He just tried to ignore it and not dwell on it. The Land of the Dead was grey and bleak, and the most notable thing about it was the mountains and the piles of bones that were scattered everywhere. Finn didn't let it get to him. He began to sneakily wander throughout the Land of the Dead. He had no choice if any of the skeletons saw him they would rip his flesh off in an instant. It was dark and hard to see them sometimes, so he presumed that finding death would be the best option he had the first time around, since searching the entire land of the dead was nothing but suicidal. Finn went in the direction to a faint light that was not too far away.

Finn could see the bright light get brighter as he got closer until it finally came into view, a castle that was seemingly made entirely out of crystals and light. It was almost blinding, though Finn was lost upon gazing at it until he heard a growl, looking over his shoulder seeing a skeleton standing there. "AGH!" Finn screamed and immediately pulled his sword off his back, smashing its skull in half and making it fall over. He heard louder snarls as more skeletons came along. "Uh oh…" he muttered before running for the opposite direction. He couldn't handle every skeleton in the land. He ran for the Castle of Light while the other skeletons pursued him from behind.

Finn arrived to the entrance of the Castle of Light, panting. He had run out of breath and was exhausted, though he noticed that the skeletons that were chasing him had stopped abruptly only a few feet away. Finn raised an eyebrow until he saw one try to reach from him, but suddenly jerked it away in pain, with a burn mark in its boney hand. "Oooh… so you can't get near the castle," the teenage boy said in relief before continuing inside, not having to worry about the skeletons from there on.

Inside the Castle of Light had a zen garden with large skeletons instead of rocks. He tried carefully not to mess up any of it. "Who's there?" Finn heard a voice that paralyzed him. He gulped, looking to the left to see Death himself. He was dressed in his usual outfit of a light tan shirt and dark grey pants, along with his tan hat. He didn't look too happy seeing the boy in his Zen Garden again, for they have had encounters before.

"D-death! It's me…" Finn stuttered hesitantly. "Oh… Finn the human… What are you doing in the Land of the Dead? Did one of your little adventures finally get the best of you?" he questioned while wielding his scythe, looking somewhat impatient. "N-no. I-I came to find a temple. A-a creepy fortune teller lady told me to find it here," he explained his reasons behind coming here. "…Fortune teller lady?" Death repeated confusedly, scratching his boney chin. "Y-yeah. S-she wanted me to tell you her debt would soon be repaid," he explained. Death snapped his fingers in realization about who he was talking about. "Psíquico! Yes, I remember her," he grinned. Finn didn't realize that the fortune teller's name was Psíquico until now.

"Right… a temple, you say? …if it'll help repay that debt," Death started while leading a somewhat worried Finn to another part of his castle, where a big stone slab door was waiting for them. "I never cared to open it. But have fun," Death said, not caring what he did, but before he could get back to tending to his Zen Garden, Finn stopped him. "Wait! Death… uh, can we make a deal?" he hesitantly questioned. "Hehe… kid, you know that my deals are as bad as the devils," Death forewarned. "I know… but I don't have a choice," Finn spoke as the two began to discuss about the deal.

End of Chapter 15


	16. Chapter 16 The temple of humility

Chapter 16: The Temple of Humility

Finn had finished setting up his deal with Death, approaching the big stone slab that blocked the temple's entrance. It had many words written on it, but Finn could still only make out one word. "Humility…" Finn mumbled out. He couldn't help but question why he could only read one word out of every other word. He went up to the slab and put his gauntlet on it. The door began to glow a vibrant black and open up, shaking the ground as it did. Finn looked into it, his orange eye letting him see in darkness a bit better. He just took in a deep breath before entering the temple, hoping his encounter and deal with death was something he didn't regret.

Upon entering the temple, Finn could see skeletons hanging from the walls with various bones scattered on the ground, which he couldn't help but find as a normal sight in the underworld that the temple was settled in. He hated to describe it as that, but he had seen so much bloodshed and bodies that he was starting to get used to it. He couldn't help but feel guilty at the thought of being used to killing. He eventually arrived to one point in the temple where there was a dead end. Finn noticed a skeleton sitting in a corner covered in cobwebs, holding a black staff weapon with a dark aura around it. "Guess that's the item…" he presumed, approaching it and grabbing it. He ripped it out of the skeleton's grip before examining the staff.

"Huh… how do I use this?" Finn questioned, though he noticed a small indent in the floor that looked like it was where a lever was supposed to be. Finn raised an eyebrow for a moment before he came up with an idea, going over and spiking the staff into it. The staff glowed a bright dark aura before changing shape into the form of a lever. He grinned, grabbing the lever and pulling it backwards. Once that was done, he saw an entire wall lift itself up. Finn ripped out the lever, watching it turn back into its staff form. "A morphing staff? Sweet…!" he said with a grin, putting it on his back, letting it hold on his backpack. When he saw the wall finish rising, he suddenly heard the sound of echoing groans.

Before Finn knew it, an army of skeletons were coming right towards him. Finn grabbed his sword off his back and let the yellow rose in his shirt pocket send out a wave of vines that began to wrap around his right arm, entangling it. The rose then turned into its shield form. Finn pulled his sword off his back, getting ready. The horde of skeletons charged at him, all of them screaming "flesh" and how badly they senseless wanted it. Finn swung his sword, slashing multiples heads off and shoving some back with his shield. He just kept smashing his way through and cutting them into pieces. Finn was getting irritated with the fact that there were so many, and he had to focus on their heads or else they would just rebuild over and over again.

After a short time, Finn had hacked up at least fifty skeletons worth of bones. His arm had been bitten, and blood was dripping out of the bite marks. His leg had been clawed at by a few skeletons that had been crawling at him. It was getting annoying for Finn, but once he had killed them all, he saw a wall with letters written on it. "Huh… Lum…" he read out the word, glaring at it for a brief moment.

"I got the mantra… made my deal… I need to get the last item," Finn told himself before beginning to exit the temple. It was like he was leaving since he didn't need anything more, but as he was exiting, he found Death waiting for him at the entrance to the temple, standing there idly. "I wanted to make sure you understood the consequences if you mess up your half of the deal?" he asked. Finn nodded while walking past him and pulling out the bottle that Psiquico had given him to enter and exit the Land of the Dead. He began pouring the black liquid on the ground as the portal began to open for him to leave. "I know… and honestly, Death… just hope I do mess up," he said before entering the portal. The last thing he saw was Death just standing there, his beady yellow eyes staring at him as the portal closed behind him.

Finn woke up a few minutes after, back in the Land of Ooo. It was bright daytime and the fortune teller was nowhere to be found. Finn just looked at the sun that was hanging high in the sky like a carrot being dangled on the end of a stick. Finn just looked to the ground with a sigh. He was still standing near Lake Szelezon. He pulled out the chalice, filled it with water and looked deeply into it. "Okay… show me where the next temple is…" he said, gazing into it with his orange eye. A tombstone appeared on the chalice's screen, which instantly made him look at it in awe. "…that… that's dad's grave," he said, realizing the location and what the chalice was showing him on where to go.

"…Jake tried to keep me as far away from it as possible, so I wouldn't get upset…" Finn told himself, remembering what his older brother did to keep him from being emotionally hurt. He didn't want to go near it, but he had no choice. If the last temple was near it, then he had to go to get the last item. Finn was slightly eager to know that he was close to proving himself as a real hero, but was starting to consider proving himself to be nothing more than a monster. The more items he got, the worse he felt. He was worried about what the last item would be. But Finn wasted no time, heading off to the north of the Land of Ooo.

End of Chapter 16


	17. Chapter 17 Father's grave

Chapter 17: Father's Grave

Finn was walking through the Land of Ooo, the crescent moon hanging high in the air. He didn't care that his body was cold, aching and tired. He was approaching a familiar treefort. Once at the entrance, Finn knocked on the door and stood there, waiting and waiting. The seconds felt like hours for him until he heard the door creak open. His big brother himself stood on the other side of the door in shock. "Finn?!" Jake barked, tackling his younger brother in excitement, glad to see him after so long. Finn groaned while being hugged by his dog. "Y-yo, dude. Long time, no see…" he said, breaking the hug. His dog looked at him in shock upon seeing the orange eye and all of the injuries that were very prominent. Every item he was carrying such as the ankh rose and gauntlet were creeping him out as well.

"I thought you were dead, man," Jake exclaimed. A half-hearted laugh came from his little brother. "Nah, man. I've just been… busy," Finn spoke, trying to put how things were going recently. He was thinking that once his quest was over, he wanted to share his adventure and tales with all of his friends, since he knew they were wondering why he had left abruptly beyond the excuse that he had been searching for that lost heroic status of his. "Listen, Jake. I need a big favor," he started. "Anything for ya man," Jake insisted to do anything. Adventuring wasn't the same without Finn around.

"I need you to take me to dad's grave," Finn explained what he needed. The happy mood vanished fast upon the words being uttered. Jake had never even told his little brother about where their father was buried, but that was to keep him from getting upset. "Finn… what for?" he inquired, Finn awkwardly looking away. "…I just need to visit him, man," he spoke softly. Jake wrapped his stretchy arm around Finn and put him on his back while growing to a bigger size. "Hang on tight," he said before beginning to making a dash towards the west. Finn just gripped onto his brother's orange fur as tight as he could and tried not to fall off. It was weird that he barely knew their father, except the fact that he was a great adventurer, and now he was going to visit his grave. He didn't even remember a funeral for him being held back then.

After a while, the wild ride had finally come to a halt. Finn climbed down from Jake's back, realizing that he had gripped his brother's fur too hard that he had actually pulled some of it off. He just brushed it off, Jake shrinking down back to normal size. They both walked until they began to approach a forest, the heavy bushes being cut aside by Finn's sword. "So… when did dad die?" he asked while the only thing illuminating the forest at the moment was the moonlight barely beaming through the treetops. "When you were like three years old," he answered in a slightly depressed tone, still not so happy to do this. "Oh…" Finn went quiet again until they finally arrived to a clearing in the middle of the forest where a tombstone rested in the center of the area.

Finn approached it, sighing. He crouched down in front of it, seeing it well maintained. He brushed some of the old weeds off it. Nothing was written on it, making him wonder what to do here. "Hey, uh… listen Jake… can I be alone?" Finn asked. "Sure, man," Jake agreed, walking back to way they came to let his brother be alone and private with the grave of their father. "Hey, dad. It's been a while, huh?" Finn said while seating himself in front of the grave. "Yeah… I need to apologize. You raised me to be good, and now I'm on the verge of a snap to evil," he exclaimed. He still had only a week's worth of time to find the item to prove himself as a real hero, even after getting all of the mantras and items. He had no idea what to do with them. He felt insane over talking to a grave. "Where do I go to find the last temple?" he asked the empty environment around him, almost like he was waiting for a real response.

Finn just sighed, standing up. He was about to head back to his brother before he noticed a few vines dangling off the back of the grave. "Guess I'll clean it off for him…" he muttered, grabbing the vines and beginning to rip them apart, but only after a few were removed, he noticed that the leftover ones were forming into an arrow, pointing to the right. Finn raised an eyebrow thinking that it could in no way be a sign he asked for, but he knew that his father had done weirder from beyond the grave already to him and Jake. He stood up, just following the arrow to the right, only out of curiosity.

Just like the arrow pointed, it was towards another part of the forest which was a lot darker and more heavily covered by the trees and bushes. Finn slashed some away with his sword until he finally found the big stone slab in the ground. He looked at it and only could read one word written on it. "Valor…" he walked over to it, greeted by a bright red light encasing the stone slab as it slowly began to open, like it was warmly inviting him inside. Finn could see the dark entrance that looked like a long way down the steps. He just took in a deep breath before beginning to make his way downwards it. "Hope Jake doesn't mind…" he mumbled while continuing deeper and deeper, ready to tackle the last temple.

End of Chapter 17


	18. Chapter 18 the temple of valor

Chapter 18: The Temple of Valor

Finn had entered the temple after what he could only consider a help from beyond the grave, thanks to his father. The entrance had one door that was well carved out of wood. He tried to ignore the carefully crafted door and entered, not sure what to expect. He entered a big roundish room with sand coating the floor. A door was up ahead. Finn was about to enter it, but then felt something grab his wrist and shove him back. "What the glob?" Finn said in confusion, only to see a weird lizard appear from nowhere with a sword and shield, and leather armor on it. It hissed at him with its long tongue.

Finn just grabbed his sword and pulled it off his back. The chameleon knight slashed at him, but Finn jumped back and quickly forced himself to lunge forward, slashing at the strange knight. However, the strike was blocked, and he witnessed it begin vanishing again. "Ugh…! Invisibility spells? They're the worst" the teenage boy said in irritation while trying to focus, his orange eye beginning to show the view of the chameleon knight. It was beginning to approach him from behind for a sneak attack. Finn quickly turned around, and his blade found its target. He saw blood gush out from thin air. The monster let out a loud screech of pain, having its side cut wide open. It dropped its weapon and fell over onto the ground. Finn was panting tiredly before sheathing his sword on his back and continuing through the door, leaving the dead chameleon lying there on a slowly growing pool of blood.

Upon entering the next room, Finn could see a big lake of water in the center of the room. He noticed a glimmer of light coming through the ceiling of the room. A shiny object was hanging from a chain on the ceiling. "Huh…? How do I get that?" he wondered aloud. Just then, the room was filled with simultaneous loud roars that sent a shiver up to Finn spine. Beginning to rise from the water was a dragon monster with five heads. Its necks were long and its body was still submerged into the water. The red eyes of all five heads focused on Finn. He pulled out his sword, glaring back, his gauntlet wrapping around the hilt of his sword tightly. He didn't expect a hydra to be attacking him here.

Two of the hydra's heads went low and tried to attack him from both sides. Finn quickly rolled out of the way, letting them slam head first into each other. They were disoriented for the moment as Finn ran towards one and sliced its neck quickly, decapitating it and watching the neck stump fall to the ground. The other heads let out a roar of agony. All of the heads backed away from Finn, beginning to inhale deeply. Finn quickly pulled out his rose, letting it entangle his arm and begin to turn into its shield form. The hydra's heads all unleashed a vicious wave of purple fire breath. All that Finn could do was hide behind his rose shield, letting it take most of the fiery damage. Thankfully the shield didn't get burnt while blocking it. Once the fire died down, Finn grinned, seeing the dangling object from the ceiling that felt easier to get now. Finn charged at the hydras before jumping at them. He stabbed his sword into one's neck, beginning to climb up it.

Finn began to scale up the hydra's necks, using his gauntlet to help hold on. They looked tired from casting that fire breath. Once Finn got to the head of the middle hydra, he climbed on top of it, looking at the chain withheld a tape recorder. "Oh, this was so not worth it," he said, jumping up and grabbing it instantly, breaking it from the chains and falling back down on the hydra's head. Finn groaned slightly, pocketing the recorder before hearing the snarls return. The hydras weren't happy about him using them as ladders as they began to attack the center head. Finn shrieked before fearfully jumping off. The hydra's heads that were left were now beginning to fight with each other over the failed attempt to get him.

"Huh… lucky me," Finn thought while sheathing his sword and letting his yellow rose return to normal, resting it in his shirt pocket before noticing a door nearby. He looked awkwardly at the big fight that the hydras were having before continuing through the door to the next room.

The next room was shaped like an octagon. The whole room was made out of stone, and stain glass pictures were by the walls that mainly depicted a variation of warriors, each one wielding a different item that he had collected though the entire journey, though the one that seemed to confuse him the most was one that was nothing more than a blank white sleight, like an artist had gotten bored and didn't care to finish painting it.

In the center of the room was a pedestal, but nothing was set on it. Finn nervously approached it to survey it closely to make sure he wasn't imagining it. "No… it's not there…" he said in shock. There was still no item. The last one he needed was missing without a trace. He fell to his knees in front of the pedestal, just burying his face in his hands, unable to believe it. "Oh grod… oh grod…! A thief beat me to it," he whined, presuming that a thief had stolen the last item. He wanted to break down right there, but then he noticed something sticking out of a small hole in the center. He grabbed it and pulled it out, revealing it to be a cassette tape. He put it in the tape recorder out of curiosity.

"Hey, Finn. It's been a long time, hasn't it, my boy?" he heard his father's voice play out. "D-dad?" he stuttered in surprise. "I know you've been through a lot to get to this point, and… well, Finn, I have something I wanted to tell you. I doubted I was going to live long enough for you to get old enough to understand…" his father started the cassette, just going silent for a good few seconds that felt like hours. "I ran into some weirdo fortune teller a few months ago. I wanted to know a bit about how you and Jake would turn out, and… well, what she told me made me proud to raise a heroic duo like you two," he explained. A tear in his eye come out of Finn's eye upon hearing it. "But that was until she brought up the future. Listen, Finn, I know the only reason you're listening to this is because the item is gone, and well… that's because I had it, but I went and hid it away. It's bright red, and cursed with demon's blood," his father claimed, instructing him on what to find here.

Finn didn't hesitate to pull his sword off his back, the same bright red sword that his father had left him in a handmade dungeon for him a year ago. "I'm always proud of you, Finn. I know we raised you well enough to pick your own future. No matter what you decide to do, you'll be pop's little hero. Oh, and the mantra is Ra. Good luck," the message ended. Finn just looked at his red sword and his reflection within it before forcing himself onto his feet, finding it somehow convenient that his father ran into a fortune teller that informed him of the same dark future. Finn couldn't help but question such a thing in his mind. But now, he had the mantra and the item. Now, he had to find Psiquico.

Finn began to exit the temple, dragging his sword with him on the ground, lost in his own thoughts. He was unsure what he should do, wondering if being evil was really as fun as it seemed to be. The fact that he was being given an option for it alone made him feel more stressed out. Finn entered the second room, where the hydra heads had stopped fighting with each other and were instantly focused on him, more furious than before. One of them lunged at him, Finn thrusting his sword forward and stabbing it in the forehead, the blood spurting out onto his sword and on him as its lifeless head slammed onto the floor.

Two more of the hydras heads lunged at him while the third breathed fire. Finn showed no bit of fear while standing there. He ducked under the wave of fire, watching two of the hydra heads get cooked alive from the bright blazing fire. The fire died down, and Finn jumped at the last head, stabbing it in the neck and ripping it open. The head slumped onto the ground, and the headless body began to sink back into the pool of water. Finn still showed no emotion as he used one of the decapitating hydras to get across the water and continue to the exit.

Once outside of the temple, Finn heard the door slam shut behind him. He just let out a sigh while approaching back to his father's grave.

A few minutes later, Finn got back to the grave. The sun was barely rising over the horizon while he was on his knees in front of his father's grave, resting the tape recorder in front of it with the cassette inside of it. "Thank you, dad. I owe you a lot," the teenage boy muttered, still on his knees in front of the grave of his father. "Finn!" Finn perked his ear and head, jolting up, looking over his shoulder and seeing his older brother coming over. He stood up and walked over to him. "What is it, Jake?" he asked in a somewhat happy tone. "Where were you dude? You just vanished on me again!" Jake demanded since he had spent part of the night searching for his little brother. Finn only gave a chuckle of response. "Don't worry about it, dude. I'll be home soon," Finn simply told him before leaving, walking to the north of Ooo with a smile on his face.

End of Chapter 18


	19. Chapter 19 The final test part 1

Chapter 19: The Final Test – Part 1

Finn had traveled most of the morning until he arrived to a plain area where he found a campsite with a burnt out campfire lying on the center of it. Here, he found just who he was looking for. "Psiquico," Finn said while approaching the fortune teller. She looked to him, and he could for once see a creepy grin poking through her dark hood. "Hello, evil one. My, it has been a while since I was called that…" she greeted him. "I've all the items, and the mantras. I beat all the dungeons and practically ruined myself and my body to do it. So what do I need to do now to prove I'm a hero, one hundred percent?" Finn glared and asked for what was left for him to do. Psiquico looked back into the crystal ball that she cherished and kept ever so close to her.

Finn followed the fortune teller, just slightly walking behind her. It felt somewhat ominous to be travelling far for one last test to prove that he was a hero. He just followed and followed, walking one foot after the other, feeling more tiresome for Finn every minute. "I hope you're ready to put your abilities to the test," the fortune teller asked him while they were entering a heavy forest. The trees and surroundings were slowly vanishing into nothing but shadows in Finn's sight. "I'm ready for anything," Finn accepted. Just after he said that, he noticed flames appearing from nowhere on the sides, continuing to light up like they were guiding him down a straight path. "Good luck. You're on your own in there," Psiquico gave a wave, standing in the darkness and slowly vanishing.

Finn turned around and saw a huge, black, blank stone door. Finn just stared at it for a while before thinking for a moment until an idea hatched in his head. Just like the other doors, it was awaiting the announcements of the mantras. He went on his knees and took in a deep breath. "Ahm, mu, ra, beh, cah, summ, om, lum," he announced. Each individual mantra appeared on the door in a bright vibrant individual color. The slab began to shake violently before beginning to slowly open, the ground shaking violently under his legs, but once it was open enough, Finn continued inside, drawing his sword off his back. Upon entering, he could see a large room that was lit with torches and had eight doors surrounding a pedestal in the center. He thought that the best option he had was to do a straight line from left to right, so he went to the furthest door on the left and entered inside.

The room that Finn entered to had a platform that was entirely out of his reach, with multiple blocks lying around, but Finn another door on the platform with two iron statues side by side of it. Finn didn't question it while using his blue gauntlet to boost his strength to pick up the blocks of stone and move them around, trying to make a way up. After he set up an easily climbable staircase from the blocks, made his way up, but once he reached the top platform, he received a heavy kick to the face and slammed on his back hard, his sword landing near him. The two iron knights were now moving. They had sleek swords that were ready to rip him in half.

Finn saw them jump down. He tried to get his sword, but one landed in front of him and shoved him back. Finn found himself surrounded. One of them was at his back, and the other was in front of him. He just sighed, clenching his fists and getting ready. "I should have learnt this a while back. I can't get by being a hero without telling the truth, being honest, and never being afraid. No matter what I go up against…" Finn thought, knowing when on a lot of his adventures he was always afraid of death or even admitting his fear to anything. One of the steel knights slashed at him, but Finn ducked under the black and punched it in its chest plate with his gauntlet, cracking it. He threw his leg at it then, kicking it and causing its armor to break up and shatter to pieces.

Finn felt a heavy blow to his shoulder, getting knocked onto his knees. The other steel knight's sword was stuck in his shoulder and being ripped out painfully. It raised its sword high in the air and brought it down, trying to slam it into his skull, but Finn rolled out of the way and hit it in the right leg with his gauntlet, causing it to shatter and fall over. It tried to reach for him, but Finn quickly did an uppercut and smashed its helmet that was used as a head, breaking it into shards and causing the rest of the knight to fall into the ground, lifeless. Finn was panting, ignoring his bloody shoulder before going over and grabbing his sword, sheathing it on his backpack. He went forward and climbed up the steps of stone blocks, entering the door to the next room.

The next room was vibrant, with a bright blue tint around. The light seemed to be coming from the center of the room where a pedestal rested with a blue gem on it. Finn approached it and picked it up. He felt himself getting hypnotized the more he gazed into it, but shook it off, panting before putting it in his backpack and heading back to the main room.

Once in the main room, Finn pulled out the blue gem and rested it on the pedestal just so that he wouldn't lose it, suspecting that it would be the important item to the temple. He proceeded to the second door of the eight.

Inside the next room were hordes of vines that were overgrown. The next door was up ahead, but it was covered in vines. Finn approached it and pulled out his sword, trying to cut the vines off, but he heard a loud screeching noise after slicing one vine, and looked up at the ceiling, noticing one big eye and the vines beginning to move. "Oh glob…!" Finn said, letting his rose entangle his arm and turn into its shield form. Three of the vines jabbed at him simultaneously, but he blocked them with his shield. As this happened, he was lost in a sea of his own thoughts, thinking back on all that he had done the past few months. Finn slashed one of the vines off, hearing the echoing screech pierce his ears from the monster again. Finn could only describe the monster as a Vine Kraken.

Finn saw the rest of the vines come down and grab his shield, tying up his right arm. Finn just slashed off the vines and spun around like a spinning top, his sword slicing the vines into shreds. Finn immediately looked up and threw his sword towards the eye on the ceiling, hearing a strange squish like noise upon seeing the tentacle like monster fall to the floor in defeat, purple blood oozing out from its wound. Finn grabbed his sword and ripped it out, sheathing it on his back before letting the rose return to normal as well. He continued to the next room, where he saw another vibrant light that was bright yellow. The room looked exactly the same though, Finn questioning if it was a mindless chain of fight after fight. He just went to the pedestal and picked up the yellow gem.

Finn looked at the yellow gem in his hand, showing a look of slight depression. He swore that he could see his friends' reflections in the gem. "I'm an idiot. I ditched my friends over one accident…" he told himself before beginning to head back to the main room. He rested the yellow gem beside the blue gem. He was considering leaving the temple, but he had come so far, and giving up was not an option after all the time, effort and blood he had spent on this quest. With no time to rest, and no intention to either, Finn just headed into the third door.

Through the third door, Finn could already tell that he wasn't going to get by without a fight when he was greeted by three weird monsters that seemed to resemble the goblin he killed at the first temple. The long claws and sharp teeth with charred bodies showed hunger. Finn was curious about what exactly kept these monsters alive. He just pulled his sword off his back and didn't delay. He started the fight by stabbing one of the goblin monsters in the chest, killing it quickly and watching it collapse to the ground. The other two jumped at him. One stabbed its claws into his back, and the other tried biting into his neck while digging its claws into his arm. Finn screamed in pain, headbutting the one in front of him to get his arms free before slicing its head off. He threw himself back and rammed onto his back, making the other release its grip. He stabbed it in the forehead, panting tiredly.

Finn ripped his sword out and continued to the next room, dripping with his own blood. He was greeted by a bright red light, taking the red gem from the pedestal and looking into it. "I need to learn… to not be afraid of what I fight. My sword… it wants blood, whether good or evil. I shouldn't hesitate to attack if I know what I'm fighting is evil," he told himself, trying to accomplish what his problems were if he ever died. He just gripped the red gem in his hand, letting his blood pour on it before heading back to the main room. He now had only five rooms left.

End of Chapter 19


	20. Chapter 20 The final test part 2

Chapter 20: The Final Test - Part 2

Finn was arriving back to the main room. He just rested the red gem on the pedestal with the other two gems he had. He was now just overviewing his life while he was doing this temple. It was like his mind couldn't escape the thoughts of his friends and everyone he cared about. Finn continued to the next room where could see the green gem dangling from a chain on the ceiling out of his reach, but he had no way to get it. Nothing was in its reach. Finn found a small pedestal against the wall in the room and approached it. He pulled out the green scales and rested them on it. "Okay… now how do I do this?" Finn asked himself, digging around in his backpack. He pulled out the sheets of music that he had written with Marceline a while back.

He rested it on the right scale, watching it lower down go low while the left scale rose high. He looked up, the chain lowering down a little. Finn just looked slightly annoyed that it still wasn't in his reach. Finn grabbed his sword off his back and looked at the palm of his left hand again. It had barely healed from the last time he did this, but he didn't care. He dug his blade into his palm and cut it open. He watched his blood leak out of the wound and pour onto the other scale. "Ow… I… I'm just a big failure… an idiot who tried to kill himself over this…" he told himself before noticing the scale beginning to balance and even out. The chain lowered all the way down. He grabbed the green gem and let his blood pour down it without a care, taking the sheet music back along with the scales, pouring the blood out of it before he put them back in his backpack.

Finn entered the main room again and rested the green gem in the center pedestal with the other three. "Just… a few more left…" he told himself while heading to the next door, somewhat stumbling over his own two feet in a light headed daze. The blood loss was starting to get to him. The next room was big blank and empty, aside from a few bugs wandering about. Finn found it confusing, but there were some cracks in the walls. He had no way of getting through, until he had an idea. Finn just tried to focus very hard until suddenly his orange eye began to show the view of one of the bugs, a simple fly that appeared to be crawling on the wall. It went in between one of the cracks, and he spotted mechanical pieces in that crack. He had another idea, going over and pushing the brick on the wall. He saw the fly climb between and watched it sink in.

Upon sinking in, Finn noticed an orange gem rise from the ground on a platform. He just took it and continued back to the main room, still lost in his thoughts. "I need to learn… a third eye can both be blinding an sighting… it can help me decide things and stay on my toes, and I've completely ignored mine," he told himself what he had so far been learning, just thinking back on all of the temples he went through before. Finn rested the orange gem on the pedestal in the room with the other gems. He groaned, starting to fade in and out of consciousness. He just went on his knees in front of the pedestal, resting his head on it before beginning to fall unconscious. He yelped in pain, as suddenly something struck him on the back of the head. "Ow! What the glob?" Finn groaned, looking up. The ceiling was dropping dust, indicating that it was going to cave in soon.

"Can't rest… gotta hurry…" Finn mentally chanted to himself while heading into the next room. The next room was already out for him to fail. Platforms were floating on top of a pool of water. Finn, when inside the room and noticing this, just jumped to the first one. The platform wobbled, and Finn himself followed, barely able to keep his balance. Finn found another door just across the room and continued to hop on the platforms, one after the other. However when he reached the third to last one, Finn heard a loud hiss and turned around. A large reptile beast that resembled a cobra gazed at Finn as it rose, showing a sign of hunger towards him.

"Glob…! Cut me… a-a break…!" Finn told himself, drawing his sword on his side, his arms barely able to hold it. Finn wanted to just lie down and sleep. The cobra hissed as it lunged at him. Finn just punched it back with his gauntlet before jumping at it with his sword, stabbing it into the snakes head. It instantly fell, tossing Finn into one of the platforms in front of the door. He groaned as he climbed out from under the now dead snake, limping slightly. His left leg was aching like it had been nearly broken. He just continued to the next room, seeing a bright purple gem sitting on a pedestal that was waiting for him to grab it. Finn didn't hesitate to snatch it with his own hands. "I need to be brave… I can't be afraid of what I fight…" he told himself while heading back to the main room.

Finn ignored the snake corpse and just skipped and hopped from one platform to the next. The tiredness he was feeling now was starting to get the best of him. He was worried that he could black out at any given moment, but every time he felt his eyelids get heavy, he swore that he could hear his friends rooting for him to continue on. He was just trying to ignore it while he arrived back to the main room. He rested the purple gem with the rest of them. "Okay… just a few more left…" he thought, assuming that there was one gem in each room. He just entered the next room, the pain still running inside of him.

The next room was empty. Nothing was in it at all. Finn just scratched his head before having an idea. He just sat down and took a deep breath, taking a form of yoga pose while just holding his breath and relaxing. His ankh glowed a bright white before he opened his eyes, finding himself outside of his body again and now in his ghostly form. In Finn's view, one of the walls now led to another room. He walked through it, knowing that he was stuck as a ghost for a short time, hoping for nothing to attempt to attack his body.

In the room, Finn could see a white gem waiting on a pedestal. Finn tried to put his hand on it, but then he started to feel like he was being watched. Finn turned around. Here stood his shadow doppelganger himself. "What the…! How did you get here?" he spat, not receiving a response from his shadow clone, just staring at his red eyes. Finn just pulled out his sword angrily.

His shadow clone pulled a sword off his side and charged at him, swinging at him. Finn blocked it, but his sword was shaky and he couldn't keep a tight grip. His dark doppelganger showed a grin, kicking his sword upward and breaking Finn's guard. He spun around slashed him across the chest, knocking him flat on his back. He groaned in pain before his shadow clone stomped on his stomach. The shadow clone reached down and fastened his hands around Finn's throat, beginning to try and strangle him. Finn didn't want to risk lack of breath as he grabbed his sword and stabbed his clone in the leg. Finn forced himself to stand up and lunged at him, impaling him through the chest with his blade and pinning him to the wall.

"And stay down!" Finn growled while ripping his blade out, black ooze coming out from the wound of his shadow clone that slumped to the ground, his red beady eyes just staring at nothing. Finn just picked the white gem off the ground and continued back to his body.

Soon, Finn was in his body again, and he returned to the main room. He rested the white gem with the other gems. He held his chest in pain. The fight had really put him near his limit. "Just… one… m-more," he mentally told himself while entering the last room.

The last room had a large gap in between it, but Finn could see a lever, curious while going over and grabbing it. Unfortunately, while trying to pull it, the lever snapped out. "Huh… age took its toll on this place," he thought while pulling the dark staff off his backpack and jabbing it in the place where the lever used to be, watching it change shape and begin to turn into a new dark lever. Finn pulled it right after and watched a bridge appear for him to go walk across, where the dark gem was awaiting him just across the chasm. Before Finn could grab it, he suddenly felt a sharp pain rip through his back to his chest.

Finn looked down. A short sword was piercing his chest. It went out of his chest and he fell onto his knees, panting and gasping for breath while a pool of blood was beginning to surround him. He looked over and saw Psiquico standing there with the short sword, and his dark doppelganger standing beside her. "Thank you so much for your help, Finn…" she said while she went over and grabbed the gem, a creepy grin appearing on her face. "P-Psiquico…?! But… b-but why? You told me and my dad…" Finn said between breaths in a confused state of despair. "You think these prove if you're a hero or not? Absolutely not… these gems have an entirely different purpose. When you bring all the gems together, they make a special crystal. Now I am going to use it to amplify my powers. The predictions I told you were fake. For your father, it was the same," Psiquico explained to him her plan.

"Also, I made this little guy right here to assist me. Come, Dinn. We have a land to rule…" Psiquico said, his shadow doppelganger being nicknamed Dinn as a practically clownish joke that was nowhere funny. Dinn grabbed every one of Finn's items before following Psiquico back to the main room, away from the slowly dying boy. Finn just glared at the two figures that slowly became blurs while they left him. He could not hold out any longer. His will, hopes and beliefs were all shattered in one instance. He just gave up and let the last bits of his care die out, along with his blood on the floor.

End of Chapter 20


	21. Chapter 21 A Heroes Duty - Part 1

Chapter 21: A Heroes Duty - Part 1

Finn felt light as air. His pains had vanished, and his consciousness was coming back to him. He looked himself over and noticed that he was looking through himself like he had been using the ankh, but the problem he then noticed was that he didn't have the ankh. All but one of his items had been taken, which was the orange eye that had become fused with him, so it was not able to be removed.

"Finn the Human… welcome…" he then heard, looking over to see Death sitting nearby. He was in his castle. Finn couldn't remember being brought there. "Death? H-how did I get here?" he hesitantly asked. The grim reaper himself just laughed at his question. "What do you think? It's our agreement. You died, and now it's time for my half of the deal," he said, beginning to approach him, his beady yellow eyes turning red. Finn recalled his agonizing death, and did not enjoy thinking back on it. "Oh yeah… our deal…" he muttered. "Remember. You have one day to get Psiquico's crystal orb for me, and I'd suggest you hurry. You've been dead for three days," Death said, snapping his fingers. Finn saw his ghostly body receive a red aura around it before he let out a loud scream, while beginning to fly towards the sky of the Land of the Dead, slowly vanishing.

Finn woke up, gasping, looking over his body. All of his injuries were replaced with scars. He growled, forcing himself to his feet, his orange and blue eyes piercing the darkness of the final temple in anger. He found himself in a pool of his old blood. The bridge was still up, so he crossed it, glaring over at the lever that had a dark aura around it. "You forgot one thing, Dinn," Finn smirked, ripping the lever out. It turned back into its staff form, glad that not every item he had had been stolen, but he was terrified to imagine the damage done in three days while he was unconscious. "I gotta get home," he told himself while beginning to escape from darkness that shrouded the temple. He had much worse things to fear than the darkness now.

Finn ran across the Land of Ooo. It was raining, the sun completely blocked by the clouds. The enraged Finn had a grin across his face. "I should've learned this a long time ago. I have a moral compass, and keeping it pointing towards good is hard," he thought, unable to believe how he used to be finding it actually funny, thinking back on how upset he was when he injured the Ice King, but he didn't care. Finn saw his house in the near distance. He ran up to the door and banged on it frantically until the door opened on its own.

"Jake!" Finn called out while in the treasure room that was just after the front door. He was wondering where his older brother was. The whole house was empty, but Finn noticed one of the cushions on their couch shaking violently. He went over and removed it. Under it was a cowering BMO. "BMO? …dude, why are you hiding?" Finn asked the little animate console.

"AH! Don't hurt me!" BMO begged, still terrified. "It's me, Finn. What's going on? Where's Jake?" Finn questioned, picking him up. "Y-you were here earlier. You tried attacking Jake, and some girl you were with lit the treefort on fire," he explained what had happened. Finn didn't notice it until now. The ceiling was charred black. Finn gritted his teeth, realizing what had really been going on. "BMO, listen. That was a fake. I need to call PB," he said, putting him down after reassuring him that he was no threat.

Finn didn't hesitate to pick up the phone and try calling Princess Bubblegum. "Come on… come on…" he waited impatiently, just hearing a faint ring in his ear. "H-hello?" Princess Bubblegum finally answered. He was relieved. "Peebs, it's me. Have you seen me at all lately?" the teenage boy tried to get information. "Finn? What…? The Candy Kingdom is being ruined… by you!" she said in an upset tone. Finn could hear a loud rumbling sound come from the background of her phone, knowing that she was more than likely hiding in one of the many castles hidden rooms to stay safe. "No, PB. You and the others are mistaken. That's a dumb clone. Listen, I'm on my way. Just stay safe," he warned her before hanging up and making his way back down into the treasure chamber.

Finn frantically looked around the treasure chamber. He had no spare weaponry lying around that he could use. He remembered him and his older brother getting overstocked with the weaponry and had decided to sell them all. He never expected it to come back to bite him in the neck. He couldn't afford to waste time, and so knew that his only weapon he had was now his hands, and the morphing staff on his back, although it couldn't turn into other forms of weaponry for an unknown reason. He presumed it could only change into natural objects. After this, he set off to the Candy Kingdom with a spark to his spirit that was ready to rip his dark doppelganger Dinn to shreds.

Finn ran like his life depended on it. Moments later, he could see smoke in the distance. "Oh, glob… that's coming from the Candy Kingdom!" he shouted to himself in fear, not giving his body any rest after all he had been through. His quest wasn't finished yet. He had to get into that kingdom and set everything right.

The entrance to the Candy Kingdom was a wreck. The gate was in pieces as well, and the guards were badly injured and rendered unconscious. Normally he would help the injured, but he knew that stopping the evil duo behind this was the best option available. A loud strike of thunder came towards the center of town.

Most of the buildings were damaged. Dozens of the candy citizens were fleeing. They just ran from Finn right after they saw him, and they couldn't be answered. Finn came upon a horrid sight in the town square where a smashed fountain lay on the middle of it. His dark doppelganger was seen, holding Jake up by the throat, holding their father's sword in his other hand. This was exactly like in the vision that Psiquico had shared, a destroyed candy kingdom and his brother on the verge of death.

"STOP!" Finn shrieked, breaking into the scene and whacking Dark Finn's back with his staff. Jake fell on the ground, unconscious from the injuries that he received. "Ah, you're alive? How cute," Psiquico said, mocking how he attempted to continue playing hero. Her crystal ball had multiple colors on it. She had the crystals fused with it. Finn got ready for this battle, hoping that it was the last one.

End of Chapter 21


	22. Chapter 22 A Heroes Duty- part 2

Chapter 22: A Hero's Duty - Part 2

Finn glared at his dark doppelganger that stood there with his gauntlet on one hand and his father's sword in the other. He had all but two of his items. "You missed a few, Dinn. Don't forget to take his eye as well," Psiquico reminded, knowing where one of his last items were. Finn just gripped his staff tighter, his shadow clone walking towards him eerily. "Come on, Jake. Get up," Finn said while stepping backwards, not wanting his big brother to get hurt, so he had a bright idea turn around and run in the opposite direction to the west part of the Candy Kingdom. Dinn just chased after with Joshua's blood sword dragging on the ground, scraping against the ground in pursuit.

After a short chase into a demolished part of the town, the shadow clone was looking around in confusion, not sure where his target had went off to. Finn was hiding under part of the rubble as a disguise. His opponent was close enough, and he jumped out from under the gravel like a zombie and immediately swung at him with his staff, getting the end of the staff around the ankh, tearing it from his doppelganger's neck, letting it clatter to the ground. His dark doppelganger turned around and slashed Finn across his left shoulder. Finn cringed in pain, being knocked to his knees. He didn't hesitate to reach the ankh and grab it. He tried his best to concentrate and relax.

Finn felt himself get shoved out of his body where he saw his dark doppelganger raising his sword, ready to slice his head clean off, but he used his ghostly ability to grip at the gauntlet and pull it off his hand, distracting the dark doppelganger. He dropped the gauntlet in front of his body before diving back in, gasping for breath. While his shadow clone had its back turned, Finn grabbed the gauntlet, slipping it on and tackling Dinn to the ground, beginning to punch him and brutalize him with the strength enhancing gauntlet. "I don't care what or who you are, but I have put up with you far too much, and I'm not gonna get killed by the likes of you!" Finn declared while stealing the sword from his dark clone's grip and raising it in the air. He stabbed it into his head with an insane passion in his eyes that had a blaze of anger.

Finn watched his dark clone bleed to the ground while slowly losing the strength to fight. Eventually Dinn gave up and lost his life. Finn was panting as he stole all of his items back, putting the yellow rose back in his shirt pocket and the rest on his backpack. Suddenly he noticed a bolt of lightning come crashing down the street and blasting him back, throwing him flat on his back. "You have been quite a nuisance. You know that?" Psiquico asked while coming towards him, not happy to find out that her minion was gone.

"You lied to me. I nearly got myself killed going along with your stupid trap!" Finn accused her, remembering how he wanted Marceline to kill him off which depressed him, but the thunderbolt to the chest put him in a mindset to be careful. The rose's vines began to wrap around his arm and turn into its shield form as he held his father's sword tightly in his grip. "What do you mean? It's not like you can kill someone," Psiquico hummed. Finn gave a glare that sent him over the edge. "I learnt a lot on my quest. If there's one thing I learned that was the most important, it's to kill who I need to kill," he said with an eerie grin like someone who had snapped a long time back, and he most certainly had, but he had gone through multiple breakdowns and lapses in sanity over his journey that almost lasted for a whole year.

Psiquico just held her crystal orb as it turned bright red, beginning to shoot out a wave of fire. Finn crouched down, hiding behind his rose shield, letting it block the flames for him. They began to die down, and Finn noticed her crystal orb turn bright blue. He had planned on keeping his guard up, but suddenly felt the ground rumble, and a giant shard of ice shot up from the ground, forcing him to jump back. He could see her determination to continue with her plan. She continued shooting a barrage of icicles at him, but Finn just smashed them away and hacked at them to block them. He was struck in the knee by one, but he ripped it out with ease.

Psiquico suddenly stopped like the battle had been paused. "Boy, I need to make you an offer. Why not just assist me in ruling the land. Come on. You worked so hard and came so far. It would be such a shame for me to have to incinerate the last human alive," she explained her offer and the whole thought process behind it, an infinite amount of power, ruling an entire land alongside a very powerful sorceress that can predict the future. It seemed like an opportunity that was impossible to lose. Finn began to approach her, dragging his sword on the ground. "Alright, yeah… that sounds great," he said with a grin. He was actually thinking about the tough parts of his life while approaching her, the love troubles he had, how he kept getting his friends in trouble. He wanted to take a glimpse on the other side of the fence of good and evil, but he had already done so over his quest.

Psiquico held her hand out to him. Finn happily took it with a smirk. "We have a kingdom to wreck," she said while turning around. However, before she knew it, a big blade pierced her chest. She saw Finn's other hand reach around her and grab the crystal. "I'm sorry… but it's my duty to be a hero," he said, stepping back and watching her fall to the ground. He just looked over her, feeling depressed. "…I did it…" he mumbled before feeling a hand on his shoulder. He looked behind him and saw Death standing there. "Death? Wh-what are you doing here?" he questioned. "I came to collect on her debt. She failed to kill a hundred people in her place, and to collect your half of the deal," Death explained what Psiquico's deal was. She was out to kill a hundred people so she could avoid her own death. Finn nodded, handing the orb to Death.

"Thank you. We will meet again," Death told Finn, though he knew it was inevitable to avoid dying. "Here. Take these. I don't want them anymore," Finn handed over his green backpack with the ankh, morphing staff, gauntlet, scales, chalice and rose, all inside of it. "I'll just say that was a forgotten detail on my behalf," Death said, agreeing to keep them hidden. Finn nodded as he watched the reaper himself drag Psiquico's corpse away in one hand and carrying the crystal orb with the other hand, and his green backpack over shoulder. Death slowly vanished from Finn's view.

Finn just sat down, panting holding his head. "I can't believe it… it's over…" he told himself, almost in disbelief though. Finn couldn't get rid of his father's sword that was his one weapon, or the eye ability that was stuck in him. However, Finn had a few small things to do still.

End of Chapter 22


	23. Chapter 23 The end

Chapter 23: The End

Finn was carrying planks of wood through the streets of the Candy Kingdom. Multiple citizens were working on their homes, trying to repair them. Finn arrived to the courtyard, seeing a heavily destroyed wall as he rested them down. "Sheesh… she did a number to the kingdom," he heard, noticing his older brother following, carrying a lot more materials with his giant hands. "Yeah, man. I thought I was toast. So, Finn, are you going to come home now?" Jake asked while resting the materials down. They could see Princess Bubblegum working with Peppermint Butler on the entrance of the castle as a simple start.

"Yeah, man. It's time I got back to that hero job," he exclaimed, glad to be able to come home, though he couldn't forget all he had been through, and he was very annoyed that he lost his pinky finger on the quest as well. Overall, it was an odd journey. "Though I'm gonna tell you right now, bro, I'm gonna need a day to myself from now on," he added, thinking that he needed to relax more as a hero. He never gave himself a break throughout the long journey. Finn started walking away. "Hey man, where are you going?" Jake asked, not wanting him to leave them to rebuild the Candy Kingdom alone. "Just gotta handle one thing. I'll be right back," he responded. He left the Land of Ooo that was a lot brighter now that Psiquico was defeated. Things were starting to go back to normal.

Marceline was just resting inside of her home. She normally just slept through some of the day. She heard knocking at her door which made her groan in irritation. She climbed out of bed and made her way downstairs. She opened the door to find Finn in front of her without any of the equipment. He looked like his old self, though she could tell that he was happy about something, judging by his expression. "Hey, Marcy," he greeted her. "Hey, Finn. How's that quest going?" Marceline greeted him back, expecting this to be what he was about to talk about. "It's long over. I just thought I needed to come and talk to you about some things," he spoke. "Sure. It's been a boring day anyway," she led him inside, letting him take a seat in her living room.

"So what is it you wanted to talk about?" Marceline continued questioning. Finn's smile was not leaving his face anytime soon. Marceline felt worried since the last time he came to her that happy, he asked for senseless death. "Well I finished that quest. I thought I should come and thank you for supporting me all the way through it," Finn explained. She sighed in relief, glad to know that he wasn't asking for death this time. "Oh, that's great. It was nothing, really. That's what friends are for, right?" she responded, glad to hear all of this. Now he could get back to his regular life. "Yeah… now, I wanted to ask if… um… well, if maybe I could… write more music with you, maybe? Like a regular thing?" Finn explained the other question he had in his mind. Marceline scratched her head for a second. "Well… I guess it wouldn't hurt. Besides, you seem to be good at coming up with lyrics," Marceline agreed. An even happier expression showed on Finn's shining face.

After a few hours of the two of them talking, Finn was standing outside her door, ready to leave since he had to go help the Candy Kingdom. "Thanks again, Marcy. I owe you big, I'll pay you back somehow," he told her. "Hehe… don't worry, you will," she said. He knew that she was mostly just playing with him. After that, Finn walked away from her cave to get back to helping rebuild the Candy Kingdom, and continue his life in the Land of Ooo.

-The End-


End file.
